CN107103264B - Thermostat device - Google Patents

Abstract

A thermostat includes a central electronic display surrounded by a ring that can be rotated and pressed inward to provide user input in a simple and elegant manner. The current temperature and set point are graphically displayed as distinct tick marks. Different colors and intensities may be displayed to indicate the currently active HVAC function and the amount of heating or cooling required to reach the target temperature. The setpoint can be changed by the user rotating the ring. The schedule is displayed and changed by rotating the ring and pressing the ring inward. By means of the described form factor, display mode and user input mode of the device, initial device setup and installation, viewing of device operation, editing of various settings and viewing of historical energy usage information becomes simple and elegant.

Description

Thermostat device

The application belongs to divisional application of Chinese patent application with application number 201180055675.0 after PCT international application with international application date of 2011, 11, 18 and international application number of PCT/US2011/061470 enters the Chinese national stage.

Related application

This application filed on day 18, 11.2011 as PCT international patent application filed in the name of american national company new Labs, inc. the applicant designates all countries except the united states, and the us citizens David SLOO, the us citizens Anthony Michael fadel, the us citizens Matthew Lee ROGERS, the us citizens Michael pluitkins, the us citizens Michael James MATAS and the us citizens free BOULD, the applicant designates only the united states. The present application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application serial No. 61/415,771 filed on 19/2010, U.S. provisional application serial No. 61/429,093 filed on 31/2010, U.S. serial No. 13/033,573 filed on 23/2011, and U.S. serial No. 13/269,501 filed on 7/2011, each of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

This patent specification relates to systems, methods, and related computer program products for monitoring and controlling energy consuming systems or other resource consuming systems. More particularly, this patent specification relates to user interfaces for control units that manage the operation of energy consuming systems, home appliances, or other resource consuming systems, including user interfaces for thermostats that manage the operation of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.

Background

Despite the great amount of effort and attention continuing to develop newer and more sustainable energy supplies, energy conservation through increased energy efficiency remains a major concern for the future of global energy. According to the U.S. department of energy, 10months 2010, 56% of the energy usage for heating and cooling in a typical U.S. household makes it the largest energy cost for most households. With improvements in power plant machinery associated with home heating and cooling (e.g., improved insulation, higher efficiency furnaces), a substantial increase in energy efficiency can be achieved by better control and regulation of home heating and cooling equipment. By activating heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment for judiciously selected time intervals and carefully selecting operating levels, a great deal of energy can be saved while maintaining a suitable comfortable living space for its occupants.

Historically, however, most known HVAC thermostat control systems tend to fall into one of two opposing categories, neither of which is considered optimal in most practical home environments. In the first category are many simple non-programmable home thermostats, each of which typically consists of a single mechanical or electrical dial for setting the desired temperature and a single thermo-fan-off-ac transfer switch. Although easy to use by even the least experienced occupants, the user must manually perform any energy saving control activities, such as adjusting the night temperature or turning off all heating/cooling just before leaving the home. Thus, for almost most alert users, opportunities for substantial energy savings are often missed. Further, no more advanced energy saving capabilities are provided, for example, the thermostat can be programmed to a lower energy consuming temperature set point ("return temperature") during an unoccupied planned interval and to a more comfortable temperature set point during an occupied planned interval.

On the other hand, in the second category are many programmable thermostats, which have become more common in recent years in view of the energy star (us) and TCO (european) standards, and have made considerable progress in the many different settings of HVAC systems that can be individually operated. Unfortunately, however, users are often overwhelmed by a array of bewildering switches and controls arranged on the face of the thermostat or behind the panel on the thermostat, and rarely adjust factory defaults to optimize their energy usage. Thus, while programmable thermostats installed in a large number of homes are technically capable of operating HVAC equipment in an energy-saving fashion, it is often the case that a generic factory default profile is always implemented only in a large number of homes. In fact, in an unfortunate large number of situations, a home user may operate the unit unchanged for a long period of time in a "temporary" or "hold" mode, thereby manually operating the displayed set temperature as if the unit were a simple non-programmable thermostat.

So-called self-Programming thermostats have been proposed, including the proposal to establish learned setpoints Based on Patterns of recent manual user setpoint entries as described in US20080191045a1, and the conference records of the first ACM seminar of embedded sensing systems for building energy savings, such as g.gao and k.whitehouse, "Optimizing Setback Schedules Based on HomeOccupancy Patterns", pages 67-72, american computer association (11 months 2009), suggesting automatic calculation of a reversion schedule Based on the occupancy Patterns sensed at home. However, it has been found that a critical and substantial problem arises in integrating self-programming behavior with mainstream residential and/or commercial use practices, namely that unresolved and pending problems arise in this self-programming thermostat proposal. For example, there are also many users who are equally uncomfortable with thermostats that fail to give the user a sense of control and autonomy of their comfort, or otherwise fail to give the user confidence that their wishes are indeed properly accepted and executed at the appropriate time, only when there are many users who are deterred by the rows of bewildering controls on the user-programmable thermostats. On a more general level, due to the fact that humans are necessarily involved, there are conflicts that arise between: (i) the amount of energy savings improvement that can be provided by the HVAC control system, and (ii) the extent to which energy savings improvement can be put into practical use in a large number of households on a daily basis. Similar problems arise in the case of multi-unit apartment buildings, hotels, retail stores, office buildings, industrial buildings, and more generally, any living or working space having one or more HVAC systems. It has been found that the user interface of thermostats, which often appear to be a later addition to known commercially available products, represents a crucial link in successfully integrating self-programming thermostats with a wide range of residential and commercial uses, and even subtle visual and tactile cues can make a tremendous difference in whether those efforts are successful.

Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a thermostat with an improved user interface that is simple, intuitive, elegant and easy to use to enable a typical user to achieve many energy saving and comfortably maintained features while not being overwhelmed by the choices provided. It would further be desirable to provide a user interface for a self-programming or learning thermostat that provides a relatively quick and easy to complete user setup and learning instantiation process, while encouraging the user's confidence that their setpoint wishes will be properly respected. It would further be desirable to provide a user interface for a self-programming or learning thermostat that facilitates obtaining results of learning algorithms and methods to quickly and intuitively change predetermined set points (including learned set points). It would further be desirable to provide a self-programming or learning thermostat user interface that provides insightful feedback and encouragement regarding energy saving behavior, performance, and/or outcomes associated with operation of the thermostat. Notably, while one or more of the embodiments described below are particularly advantageous when incorporated with a self-programming or learning thermostat, it should be understood that these embodiments also advantageously incorporate a non-learning thermostat and are within the scope of the teachings of the present invention. Other problems will arise as will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading this disclosure.

Disclosure of Invention

According to one or more embodiments, a user interface for a programmable device (e.g., a programmable thermostat) is provided that controls the operation of one or more energy consuming systems, home appliances, or other resource consuming systems, such as a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system. Systems, methods, computer program products, and related business methods associated with a user interface and a programmable device are further provided. For some embodiments, a programmable device is configured to perform a method of interacting with its user, the method comprising displaying a plurality of background tick marks arranged in an arc within a range area on a circular display screen centrally mounted on a circular body of the programmable device. The set point tick marks are displayed on the circular display screen within the range area so that the set point tick marks are more visible to the user than the background tick marks, and the set point tick marks represent the set point temperature. The numerical representations of the current temperature and the setpoint temperature are displayed on a circular display screen, and an input is received from a user indicating a desired change in the setpoint temperature by the user rotating a rotating ring around the circular display screen. In response to receiving the input and in accordance with receiving the input, the setpoint tick mark is moved to make the change in setpoint visible to the user.

According to some embodiments, the background color is displayed with shades of red and/or orange when the device requires heating, and with shades of blue when the device requires cooling. For some embodiments, the displayed color intensity corresponds to an estimated amount of heating or cooling that will be used to reach the set point temperature.

According to some embodiments, there is provided a programmable device for controlling operation of an HVAC system, the programmable device configured to perform a method of interacting with a user thereof, the method comprising displaying a menu comprising a plurality of user-selectable options in an arc-shaped area on a circular display screen centrally mounted on a circular body of the programmable device; and receiving input from a user by the user rotating the rotating ring around the circular display screen. Different user-selectable options are highlighted in response to receiving the input and in accordance with receiving the input. The arcuate region is preferably a circular outer region of a circular display screen positioned along its periphery, and in response to receiving an input, a plurality of user-selectable options are distributed around the circular region and rotated around the display screen. For some embodiments, the highlighted window preferably remains in a fixed position relative to the device while the plurality of user-selectable options are progressively rotated through the window such that only one user-selectable option is visible within the window at a time. The user can select the currently highlighted option by pressing the rotary ring.

According to some embodiments, there is provided a programmable device for controlling operation of an HVAC system, the programmable device configured to perform a method of interacting with a user thereof, the method comprising displaying a visible portion of a schedule map on an electronic display screen, the electronic display screen centrally mounted on a body of the programmable device, the schedule map having a time axis and comprising a plurality of programmed set points positioned at various locations along the time axis. The method further comprises receiving an input from a user by the user rotating a rotating ring around the circular display screen; and gradually changing a visible portion of the schedule map display in response to receiving the input. The stationary cursor is preferably placed on the display visible portion of the schedule drawing, the cursor representing the time value it has due to its position along the time axis of the schedule drawing. The schedule map is preferably moved in the direction of the time axis relative to the stationary cursor so that a series of time intervals are represented on the display screen in accordance with the received user input. Each programmed set point has an effective time characterized by a position along the time axis and further has a temperature value characterized by a position along the temperature axis of the schedule plot. For some implementations, the time axis is disposed along the horizontal direction, while the temperature axis is disposed along the vertical direction. New programmed set points can be established and existing programmed set points can be adjusted in terms of effective time and/or temperature values by an intuitive sequence of the user pressing the rotary ring and the user rotating the rotary ring. To establish a new programmed set point, the user rotates the rotating ring until the stationary cursor coincides with the desired effective time, presses the rotating ring to establish a new set point at this time axis position, rotates the rotating ring to adjust the temperature value for the new set point, and then presses the rotating ring again to establish the programmed set point at this effective time and this temperature value. To adjust an existing programmed setpoint, the user rotates the rotating ring until the stationary cursor coincides with its effective time, presses the rotating ring to select this programmed setpoint, rotates the rotating ring to adjust the timeline position, presses the rotating ring to select the desired time position and allow for adjustment of the temperature value, rotates the rotating ring to adjust the temperature value, and presses the rotating ring again to establish a new effective time and temperature value for the programmed setpoint.

According to some embodiments, a programmable device for controlling an HVAC system is provided. The device comprises an electronic display screen located within a user-rotatable and user-depressible circular outer ring; and a processor adapted and configured to drive the electronic display screen in response to a user pressing and rotating the outer ring. The processor is programmed to cause the electronic display to display recent energy usage performance information for a recent series of historical time intervals. The energy performance information may be displayed to the user in separate respective windows for respective time intervals, and the electronic display screen displays animated transitions between the respective time intervals in response to the user rotating the ring.

It should be appreciated that these systems and methods are novel as to their application and the many components, systems, methods and algorithms used and included therein. It should be appreciated that the embodiments of the presently described inventive work may be implemented in numerous ways, including as a process, an apparatus, a system, a device, a method, a computer readable medium, a computing algorithm, embedded or distributed software, and/or as a combination of the foregoing. Several illustrative embodiments are described below.

Drawings

The inventive work will be readily understood by reference to the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings, in which:

figure 1 is an illustration of an enclosure with controlled environmental conditions according to some embodiments;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of an HVAC system according to some embodiments;

3A-3B illustrate a thermostat with a user-friendly interface according to some embodiments;

FIG. 3C illustrates a cross-sectional view of a shell portion of the frame of the thermostat of FIGS. 3A-3B;

fig. 4 illustrates a thermostat with a head unit and a back plate (or wall dock) for ease of installation, configuration, and upgrade, according to some embodiments;

5A-5F and 6A-6D illustrate display screens on a user-friendly graphical user interface of a programmable thermostat after initial setup, according to some embodiments;

7A-7K illustrate aspects of an overall layout of a graphical user interface of a thermostat, according to some embodiments;

8A-8C illustrate exemplary screens of a rotating main menu on a user-friendly programmable thermostat, according to some preferred embodiments;

9A-9H and 10A-10I illustrate exemplary user interface screens on a user-friendly programmable thermostat for manufacturing various settings, according to some embodiments;

11A-11D illustrate exemplary screens of various error conditions on a user-friendly programmable thermostat, according to some embodiments;

12A and 12B illustrate certain aspects of user interface navigation through a multiple-day schedule on a user-friendly programmable thermostat, in accordance with some preferred embodiments;

fig. 13 illustrates an exemplary screen related to the display of energy usage information on a user-friendly programmable thermostat, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary screen for displaying an animated scale sweep on a user-friendly programmable thermostat, according to some embodiments;

15A-15C illustrate exemplary screens related to learning on a user-friendly programmable thermostat, according to some alternative embodiments;

16A-16B illustrate a thermostat with a user-friendly interface according to some embodiments;

17A-17B illustrate a thermostat with a user-friendly interface according to some embodiments;

18A-18B illustrate front exterior views of user-friendly, visually pleasing thermostats according to some embodiments;

19A-19B illustrate perspective and side cross-sectional views, respectively, of a user-friendly, visually pleasing thermostat according to some embodiments;

fig. 20 illustrates a perspective view of a user-friendly, visually-pleasing thermostat, according to some embodiments;

fig. 21A illustrates a perspective view of a user-friendly, visually-pleasing thermostat, according to some embodiments;

21B-21G illustrate the graphical user interface of the thermostat of FIG. 21A during and after a user input to increase the set point temperature;

22A-22D illustrate exemplary screens on a thermostat having a user interface capable of entering textual information, according to some embodiments;

23A-23B illustrate a thermostat with other buttons that facilitate user input and navigation according to alternative embodiments;

FIG. 24 illustrates an exemplary screen of a "select front to back" transition between screens according to some embodiments; and

fig. 25 illustrates an exemplary screen for a "panning" transition between screens according to some embodiments.

Detailed Description

The subject matter of this patent specification relates to the subject matter of the following commonly assigned applications, each of which is incorporated herein by reference: U.S. serial number 12/881,430 filed on 9/14/2010; U.S. serial number 12/881,463 filed on 9/14/2010; U.S. temporary serial number 61/415,771 filed on 11/19/2010; U.S. temporary serial number 61/429,093 filed on 12/31/2010; us serial number 12/984,602 filed on 4/1/2011; us serial number 12/987,257 filed on 10/1/2011; us serial number 13/033,573 filed on 23/2/2011; us serial number 29/386,021 filed on 23/2/2011; us serial number 13/034,666 filed 24/2/2011; us serial number 13/034,674 filed 24/2/2011; us serial number 13/034,678 filed 24/2/2011; us serial number 13/038,191 filed on 3/1/2011; us serial number 13/038,206 filed on 3/1/2011; us serial number 29/399,609 filed on 8/16/2011; us serial number 29/399,614 filed on 8/16/2011; us serial number 29/399,617 filed on 8/16/2011; us serial number 29/399,618 filed on 8/16/2011; us serial number 29/399,621 filed on 8/16/2011; us serial number 29/399,623 filed on 8/16/2011; us serial number 29/399,625 filed on 8/16/2011; us serial number 29/399,627 filed on 8/16/2011; us serial number 29/399,630 filed on 8/16/2011; us serial number 29/399,632 filed on 8/16/2011; us serial number 29/399,633 filed on 8/16/2011; us serial number 29/399,636 filed on 8/16/2011; us serial number 29/399,637 filed on 8/16/2011; us serial number 13/199,108 filed on 8/17/2011; us serial number 13/267,871 filed on 6/10/2011; us serial number 13/267,877 filed on 6/10/2011; us serial number 13/269,501 filed on 7/10/2011; us serial number 29/404,096 filed on 14/10/2011; us serial number 29/404,097 filed on 14/10/2011; us serial number 29/404,098 filed on 14/10/2011; us serial number 29/404,099 filed on 14/10/2011; us serial number 29/404,101 filed on 14/10/2011; us serial number 29/404,103 filed on 14/10/2011; us serial number 29/404,104 filed on 14/10/2011; us serial number 29/404,105 filed on 14/10/2011; us serial number 13/275,307 filed on day 17 of 10 months 2011; us serial number 13/275,311 filed on day 17 of 10 months 2011; us serial number 13/317,423 filed on day 17 of 10 months 2011; us serial number 13/279,151 filed on 21/10/2011; us serial number 13/317,557 filed on 21/10/2011; and us temporary serial number 61/627,996 filed on 21/10/2011.

Detailed descriptions of inventive work are provided herein. While several embodiments are described, it should be understood that the inventive work is not limited to any one embodiment, but encompasses numerous alternatives, modifications, and equivalents. In addition, while numerous specific details are set forth in the following description in order to provide a thorough understanding of the inventive work, some embodiments may be practiced without some or all of these details. Moreover, for the purpose of clarity, certain technical material that is known in the related art has not been described in detail in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the inventive work.

The term "HVAC" as used herein includes systems that provide heating and cooling, heating only, cooling only, and other body comfort and/or conditioning functionality (e.g., humidification, dehumidification, and ventilation).

When referring to an HVAC thermostat, the terms "power collection," "sharing," and "theft" as used herein all refer to thermostats designed to derive power from a power converter through the plant load without directly using a direct or common line source from the converter.

When referring to an HVAC system, the term "residential" as used herein refers to a type of HVAC system that is adapted to heat, cool, and/or otherwise condition the interior of a building that is primarily intended for single family housing. An example of a refrigeration system considered a home would have a refrigeration capacity of less than about 5 cold tons (1 cold ton-12,000 Btu/h).

When referring to an HVAC system, the term "light commercial" as used herein refers to a type of HVAC system that is suitable for heating, cooling, and/or otherwise conditioning the interior of a building primarily for commercial purposes, but having a size and configuration that residential HVAC systems are considered suitable for. An example of a refrigeration system considered a home would have a refrigeration capacity of less than about 5 tons.

The term "thermostat" as used herein refers to a device or system for regulating a parameter (e.g., temperature and/or humidity within at least a portion of an enclosure). The term "thermostat" may include a control unit for a heating and/or cooling system, or a component of a heater or air conditioner. The term "thermostat" as used herein may also refer generally to a multi-function sensing and control unit (VSCU unit) that is configured and adapted to provide complex, customized, energy-efficient HVAC control functionality while being visually appealing, unobtrusive, seemingly elegant, and pleasing for ease of use.

Figure 1 is an illustration of an enclosure with controlled environmental conditions according to some embodiments. In this example, theenclosure 100 is a single family dwelling. According to other embodiments, the enclosure may be, for example, a house, an apartment in an apartment building, a light commercial structure (e.g., an office or retail store), or a combination of the foregoing. As will be described in further detail below, thethermostat 110 controls theHVAC system 120. According to some embodiments, theHVAC system 120 has a cooling capacity of less than about 5 tons. According to some embodiments, the remote device 112 is in wireless communication with thethermostat 110 and may be used to display information to the user and receive user input from a remote location of the device 112. Although many embodiments are described herein as being performed by a thermostat (e.g., thermostat 110), according to some embodiments, the same or similar techniques are used by using a remote device (e.g., device 112).

Figure 2 is an illustration of an HVAC system according to some embodiments. TheHVAC system 120 provides heating, cooling, ventilation, and/or air treatment for an enclosure, such as thesingle family dwelling 100 shown in figure 1.System 120 depicts a warm air heating system, however other types of systems may be used according to other embodiments. In heating, a heating coil orelement 242 within theair handler 240 provides a source of heat using electricity or gas throughline 236. Usingfan 238, the refrigerant gas is drawn from the enclosure throughreturn duct 246 throughfilter 270 and the refrigerant gas is heated using heating coil orelement 242. The heating gas flows back into the enclosure at one or more locations throughsupply air ductwork 252 and supply air grilles (e.g., grilles 250). In cooling, theexternal compressor 230 passes a gas (e.g., freon) through a set of heat exchanger coils to cool the gas. The gas then enters arefrigeration coil 234 in a gas expansion,refrigerated air handler 240 and, by afan 238, the gas circulating through the enclosure is refrigerated. According to some embodiments, ahumidifier 254 is also provided. Although not shown in fig. 2, according to some embodiments, the HVAC system has other known functionality, such as venting air to and from the outside, and one or more dampers for controlling air flow within the ductwork. The system is controlled bycontrol electronics 212, and the operation ofcontrol electronics 212 is managed by a thermostat (e.g., thermostat 110). Thethermostat 110 controls theHVAC system 120 through a number of control circuits. Thethermostat 110 also includes a processing system 260 (e.g., a microprocessor) that is adapted and programmed to control the HVAC system and to perform the techniques described in detail herein.

Fig. 3A-3B illustrate a thermostat with a user-friendly interface according to some embodiments. Unlike many prior art thermostats, thethermostat 300 preferably has a sleek, simple, neat, and elegant design that does not detract from the home decoration, and may actually serve as a visually pleasing center decoration for the immediate location where the thermostat is installed. Furthermore, unlike known conventional thermostats, user interaction with thethermostat 300 is facilitated and greatly enhanced by the design of thethermostat 300. Thethermostat 300 includes control circuitry and is electrically connected to an HVAC system, such as that shown by thethermostat 110 in fig. 1 and 2. Thethermostat 300 is wall-mounted, has a circular shape, and has an outerrotating ring 312 for receiving user input. Thethermostat 300 has a circular shape such that it appears as a generally circular disc-shaped object when mounted on a wall. Thethermostat 300 has a large front face located within anouter ring 312. According to some embodiments, the diameter of thethermostat 300 is about 80 mm. The outerrotating ring 312 allows the user to make adjustments, for example, to select a new target temperature. For example, the target temperature may be increased by rotating theouter ring 312 clockwise, and the target temperature may be decreased by rotating theouter ring 312 counterclockwise. The front side of thethermostat 300 includes atransparent cover 314, thetransparent cover 314 being polycarbonate according to some embodiments; and ametal portion 324 preferably having a plurality of slots formed therein (as shown). According to some embodiments, the surface of thetransparent cover 314 and themetal portion 324 form a generally outer arc or sphere that is gradually arcuate outward, and this gradual arc extends from theouter ring 312.

Although thecover 314 is formed from a single lenticular sheet of, for example, polycarbonate material, thecover 314 has two distinct regions or portions, including an outer portion 314o and a central portion 314 i. According to some embodiments, thecover 314 covers or smokes around the outer portion 314o, but makes the central portion 314i clearly clear to facilitate viewing of theelectronic display screen 316 disposed underneath. According to some embodiments, thecurved cover 314 acts as a lens that tends to magnify the information displayed to the user in theelectronic display screen 316. According to some embodiments, the centralelectronic display 316 is a dot matrix layout (independently addressable) so that arbitrary shapes can be produced, rather than a segmented layout. According to some embodiments, a combination of lattice layout and segmentation layout is used. According to some embodiments, thecentral display screen 316 is a backlit color Liquid Crystal Display (LCD). An example of the information displayed on theelectronic display screen 316 is illustrated in fig. 3A and includes acentral number 320 representing the current setpoint temperature. According to some embodiments, themetal portion 324 has a number of slot-like openings to facilitate the use of an underlying mounted passiveinfrared motion sensor 330. Themetal portion 324 may alternatively be referred to as a metal front grid portion. Further description of the metal portion/front grill portion is provided in the above-referenced commonly assigned U.S. application No. 13/199,108. Thethermostat 300 is preferably constructed so that theelectronic display screen 316 is in a fixed orientation and does not rotate with theouter ring 312 so that theelectronic display screen 316 is easily readable by a user. For some embodiments, thecap 314 andmetal portion 324 are also held in a fixed orientation and do not rotate with theouter ring 312. According to one embodiment where thethermostat 300 is about 80mm in diameter, theelectronic display screen 316 is about 45mm in diameter. According to some embodiments, anLED indicator 380 is located below theportion 324 to serve as a low power consumption indicator for certain status conditions. For example, theLED indicator 380 may be used to display a flashing red color when the rechargeable battery of the thermostat (see fig. 4, below) is low and is being recharged. More generally, theLED indicators 380 may be used to communicate one or more status codes or error codes by way of various combinations of red, green, red and green, various different blink rates, and the like, which may be used for fault diagnosis purposes.

Motion sensing and other techniques may be used to detect and/or predict occupancy as further described in the above-referenced commonly assigned U.S. serial No. 12/881,430. According to some embodiments, the occupancy information is used to generate an efficient and effective reservation procedure. Preferably, anactive proximity sensor 370A is provided to detect a user in proximity by infrared light reflection, and an ambientlight sensor 370B is provided to sense visible light. Theproximity sensor 370A may be used to detect proximity within a range of about one meter so that thethermostat 300 may initiate a "wake up" when a user is proximate to the thermostat and before the user contacts the thermostat. This use of proximity sensing may be used to enhance the user experience by "preparing" for interaction as soon as possible or shortly after the user is ready to interact with the thermostat. Furthermore, the wake-up proximity functionality also allows for power savings within the thermostat by entering a "sleep" mode when user interaction is not occurring or is about to occur. Ambientlight sensor 370B may be used for various intelligence gathering purposes, for example, to facilitate confirming the rate of stay when a sharp rising or falling edge is detected (because there may be occupants turning lights on and off), and for example, to detect a long-term (e.g., 24 hour) pattern of ambient light intensity to confirm and/or automatically establish a time of day.

According to some embodiments, to achieve the combined purposes of inspiring user confidence and further promoting visual and functional elegance, thethermostat 300 is controlled by only two types of user input, the first type being to rotate theouter ring 312 as shown in fig. 3A (hereinafter referred to as a "spin ring" or "spin ring" input), and the second type being to push theouter cover 308 inward (see fig. 3B) until an audible and/or tactile "click" (hereinafter referred to as an "inward click" or simple "click" input) occurs. For the embodiment of fig. 3A-3B, theouter cover 308 is an assembly that includes all of theouter ring 312, thecover 314, theelectronic display 316, and themetal portion 324. When the user presses theouter cover 308 inward, theouter cover 308 moves inward a small amount (e.g., 0.5mm) against an internal metal dome switch (not shown), and then resiliently moves back outward by the same amount when the internal pressure is released, thereby providing a satisfactory tactile "click" feel to the user's hand, and a corresponding soft audible click. Thus, for the embodiments of fig. 3A-3B, the inward click may be achieved by pressing directly on theouter ring 312 itself, or by pressing the outer ring indirectly by providing an inward pressure on thecap 314, themetal portion 314, or various combinations thereof. For other embodiments, thethermostat 300 may be mechanically configured such that only theouter ring 312 moves inward for an inward click input, while thecover 314 and themetal portion 324 remain stationary. It should be appreciated that a variety of different selections and combinations of specific mechanical elements that move inward to effect an "inward click" input, whether such input is theouter ring 312 itself, some portion of thecover 314, or a combination thereof, are within the scope of the teachings of the present invention. However, it has been found particularly advantageous to provide the user with the ability to quickly traverse between the positioning "ring rotation" and "inward click" with a single hand and with the minimum amount of time and effort involved, and therefore the ability to provide an inward click directly by pressing theouter ring 312 has been found particularly advantageous because the user's finger does not need to be lifted out of contact with the device, or slid along its surface, in order to make between ring rotation and inward click. Furthermore, by virtue of the strategic location of theelectronic display screen 316 centrally within therotating ring 312, another advantage is provided in that the user can naturally focus on the electronic display screen throughout the input process at the very center of where the hand is performing its function. Particularly when applied to (but not limited to) changing the set point temperature of a thermostat, the combination of intuitive outer ring rotation with a pleasing human feel of clicking in, and the natural focus of the adaptation on the electronic display screen in the middle of finger activity, significantly increases the intuitive, leak-free, and fully interesting user experience. Further descriptions of advantageous mechanical user interfaces and related designs for use according to some embodiments may be found in the above-mentioned U.S. serial No. 13/033,573, the above-mentioned U.S. serial No. 29/386,021, and the above-mentioned U.S. serial No. 13/199,108.

Fig. 3C illustrates a cross-sectional view of ahousing section 309 of the thermostat's frame of fig. 3A-3B, it has been found that theentire thermostat 300 provides a particularly pleasing and suitable visual appearance when viewed with reference to a variety of different wall colors and wall textures in a variety of different home environments and home settings. While the thermostat itself is functionally adapted to the user's schedule as described herein and in one or more of the above-mentioned commonly assigned incorporated applications, thehousing portion 309 is specifically configured to communicate a "chameleon" quality or characteristic such that the overall device appears to naturally harmonize with many of the most common wall colors and wall textures found in home and business environments, at least in part because the device appears to present surrounding colors, even textures, when viewed from many different angles. Theshell portion 309 has a frustoconical shape that is gently curved when viewed in cross-section and includes asidewall 376 made of a transparent solid material (e.g., polycarbonate plastic). Thesidewalls 376 are backed with a substantially matte silver or nickel colored paint that is applied to theinterior surfaces 378 of thesidewalls 376 and not to theexterior surfaces 377 of thesidewalls 376. Theouter surface 377 is smooth and glossy but is not coated with a coating. Thesidewall 376 may have a thickness T of about 1.5mm, a diameter d1 of about 78.8mm that is closer to the first end of the wall when installed, and a diameter d2 of about 81.2mm that is further from the second end of the wall when installed, varying in diameter across an outward width dimension "h" of about 22.5mm, varying in diameter in a linear manner or, more preferably, in a slightly non-linear manner that increases the outward distance to form a slightly curved shape when viewed from the profile (as shown in fig. 3C).Outer ring 312 ofouter cap 308 is preferably constructed to match diameter d2 and is positioned adjacent the second end ofshell portion 309 across an appropriately sized gap g1 therein, and then gently arcs inwardly to contactcap 314 acrosssmall gap g 2. Of course, it should be understood that fig. 3C only illustrates thehousing portion 309 of thethermostat 300 and that there are many electronic components within it, which are omitted from fig. 3C for clarity of presentation, and which are further described below and in other commonly assigned applications incorporated therein, such as the aforementioned U.S. serial No. 13/199,108.

According to some embodiments, thethermostat 300 includes aprocessing system 360, adisplay driver 364, and awireless communication system 366. Theprocessing system 360 is adapted to cause thedisplay driver 364 and thedisplay area 316 to display information to a user and to receive user input via therotating ring 312. According to some embodiments, theprocessing system 360 is capable of performing management of the operation of thethermostat 300 including the user interface features described herein.Processing system 360 is further programmed and configured to perform other operations as described further below, and/or in other commonly assigned applications incorporated by reference. For example, theprocessing system 360 is further programmed and configured to maintain and update a thermodynamic model of an enclosure in which the HVAC system is installed, such as described in the above-mentioned U.S. serial No. 12/881,463, and in international patent application No. PCT/US11/51579, which is incorporated herein by reference. According to some embodiments, thewireless communication system 366 is used to communicate with devices (e.g., personal computers and/or other thermostat or HVAC system components), which may be peer-to-peer communication, communication through one or more servers located on a private network, and/or communication through a cloud-based service.

Fig. 4 illustrates a side view of athermostat 300 having ahead unit 410 and a back plate (or wall dock) 440 for ease of installation, configuration, and upgrade, according to some embodiments. As described above, thethermostat 300 is wall-mounted, has a circular shape, and has an outerrotating ring 312 for receiving user input. Thehead unit 410 includes anouter cover 308, theouter cover 308 including acover 314 and anelectronic display 316. Thehead unit 410 of thecircular thermostat 300 is slidably mounted to theback plate 440 and slidably separated from theback plate 440. According to some embodiments, the connection of thehead unit 410 to theback plate 440 may be accomplished using magnets, bayonets, latches and hooks, tabs or ribs with matching grooves, or simply rubbing on the mating portions of thehead unit 410 and theback plate 440. According to some embodiments,head unit 410 includes aprocessing system 360, adisplay driver 364, and awireless communication system 366. Also shown is arechargeable battery 420 that is recharged using a charging circuit 422, the charging circuit 422 using power from the back panel, obtained by power harvesting (also referred to as power theft and/or power sharing) from HVAC system control circuitry or from common wiring (if any), as described in further detail in co-pending patent applications U.S. serial numbers 13/034,674 and 13/034,678, which are incorporated herein by reference. According to some embodiments, therechargeable battery 420 is a single cell lithium-ion or lithium-polymer battery.

Theback plate 440 includeselectronics 482 and a temperature/humidity sensor 484 in thehousing 460 that are vented through thevent 442. Two or more temperature sensors (not shown) are also located in thehead unit 410 and cooperate to acquire reliable and accurate room temperature data. Awire connector 470 is provided to allow for wiring to the HVAC system. Thewire terminals 480 provide electrical connections between thehead unit 410 and theback plate 440. Thebackplane electronics 482 also includes power sharing circuitry for sensing and collecting power available from the HVAC system circuitry.

Fig. 5A-5F and 6A-6D are display output flow diagrams illustrating a user-friendly graphical user interface of a programmable thermostat after initial setup, according to some embodiments. For example, the initial setup procedure occurs when thethermostat 300 is first removed from the cabinet, or after a factory default reset instruction is issued. According to some embodiments, the screen shown is displayed on a circular dot matrixelectronic display 316 with arotating ring 312 on thethermostat 300, such as shown and described above with reference to fig. 3A-4. In fig. 5A, athermostat 300 having anelectronic display screen 316 displays alogo screen 510 upon initial startup. The flags screen 510 adds atrim icon 513 in thescreen 512 to indicate to the user that the boot process is in progress. According to some embodiments, information, for example, to notify a user of aspects of thethermostat 300 or aspects of the manufacturer, is displayed to the user during the startup process. Upon startup,screen 514 is displayed to inform the user that the initial setup process may take several minutes. The user confirms the message using the inward click command and then displays screen 516. Screen 516 allows the user to select one of the four setup steps by rotating the ring. According to some embodiments, the user is not allowed to select the order in which the steps are set, but rather a list of four steps is displayed so that the user has an indication of the current progress within the setting process. According to some preferred embodiments, the user may select the next step in the schedule, or any step that has been completed (to allow the step to be re-executed), but not allow the user to select an unordered future step (to prevent the user from inadvertently skipping any steps). According to one embodiment, future steps that are not yet allowed are displayed in a more transparent (or "gray") color to indicate that they are not currently available. In this case, theguidance screen 518 is clicked, requiring the user to connect to the internet to establish and/or confirm a unique cloud-based service account for features (e.g., remote control, automatic updates, and local weather information).

According to some embodiments, some transitions between screens use "select front to back" transitions, and/or pan or move display elements, as described in the above-mentioned U.S. patent application serial No. 13/033,573 and fig. 24 and 25 herein. The animated "select front to back" transition between a series of thermostat display screens, also illustrated in the above commonly assigned U.S. serial No. 29/399,625, has been found to be advantageous in providing a pleasing and satisfying user experience not only in terms of intrinsic visual pleasure, but also because it provides a unique balance between logical isolation (the feeling of a person moving to something new) and logical flow (the feeling of connectivity and causal relationships between previous and next screens). Although the transition types may not be all labeled in the figures herein, it should be understood that different types of inter-screen transitions may be used to enhance the user interface experience, for example, by indicating to the user a transition to a different step or setting, or returning to a previous screen or menu.

Inscreen 518, the user enters the connection setup step by selecting "connect" with the spin ring, and then clicking inward. Selecting "connect" causes thethermostat 300 to scan for a wireless network and then proceed to display 524 in fig. 5B. If the user selects "skip," then screen 520 is displayed which informs the user that a connection can be made at any time from the settings menu. The user confirms this connection by clicking on the guide screen 522. In screen 522, the first step "internet connection" is grayed out, indicating that this step has been intentionally skipped.

In FIG. 5B,screen 524 is displayed after scanning for a wireless network (e.g., using Wi-Fi or ZigBee wireless communication). In the example shown inscreen 524, two wireless networks have been discovered and displayed: "network 2" and "network 3". Theelectronic display 316 preferably also includes alock icon 526 to display network usage password security and awireless icon 528 to indicate a wireless connection to the network. According to some embodiments, thewireless signal icon 528 may display a number of bars indicating the relative signal strength associated with this network. If the user selects one of the discovered networks that requires a password,screen 530 is displayed to obtain the password from the user.Screen 530 uses an alphanumeric input interface in which the user selects and enters characters by rotating and clicking the ring. Further details of this type of data entry interface are described in the commonly assigned U.S. serial No. 13/033,573, discussed above, and in fig. 22A-22D herein. The user is prompted to enter a password by means of thelock icon 526. After entering the password, thescreen 532 is displayed when the thermostat attempts to establish a connection with the indicated Wi-Fi network. If a network connection is established and the internet is available, the thermostat attempts to connect with the manufacturer's server. A successful connection with the server is displayed inscreen 534. After pausing (or click confirmation),screen 536 is displayed, indicating that the internet connection setup step has been successfully completed. According to some embodiments, a check mark icon 537 is used to indicate successful completion of a step.

If a connection to the selected local network cannot be established,screen 538 is displayed informing the user that a connection cannot be made and asking if a network test procedure should be performed. If the user selects "test,"screen 540 is displayed withtrim icon 541 when performing network testing. If the test finds an error, a screen (e.g., screen 542) is displayed to indicate the nature of the error. According to some embodiments, users point online to other resources for more detailed support.

If the local network connection is successful, but then a connection to the manufacturer's server may not be established, the user is notified of status and confirmation by clicking "continue" inscreen 544 of FIG. 5C. Inscreen 546, the user is asked if he wishes to try a different network. If the user selects "network," the thermostat scans for available networks and then moves to screen 524. If the user selects "skip," screen 522 is displayed.

In some cases, for example, after network testing (screen 540), the system determines that a software and/or firmware update is required. In such cases, thescreen 548 is displayed when the update process is performed. Since some processes (e.g., downloading and installing updates) may take a relatively long time, a notification combined with thefine tune control 549 having a% indicator may be displayed to inform the user of the progress. After an update, the system typically needs to be restarted.Screen 550 informs the user to restart the system.

According to some embodiments, where more than one thermostat is located at the same residential or commercial location, these units may be associated with each other, all paired with the user's account on the cloud-based management server. When a successful network and server connection is established (screen 534) and if the server notices that there is already an online account associated with the current location by comparing the network address ofthermostat 300 with the network addresses of other currently registered thermostats,screen 552 is displayed asking the user if he wants to add the current thermostat to the existing account. If the user selects "add," the thermostat is added to the existing account shown inscreen 554 andscreen 556. After the current thermostat is added to the online account, if more than one thermostat is present on the account, the program is provided to the copy setting, starting withscreen 558. In fig. 5D,screen 558 informs the user that another thermostat (named "living room" in this case) is also associated with the user's account and asks the user whether the settings should be copied. If the user selects "copy settings,"screen 560 is displayed withtrim control 561 when the settings are copied to a new thermostat. According to some embodiments, one or more of the following settings are replicated: account pairing, learning preferences (e.g., "learn on" or "learn off"), heating or cooling mode (if available), location, answer at set-up interview, current schedule, and off-season schedule (if any).

Advantageous functionality may be provided using two different instances of thethermostat unit 300 located in a common enclosure (e.g., a single family home) that are associated with the same user account (e.g., account "tomsmith 3@ mailhost. com" in fig. 5C-5D) in a cloud-based management server. For purposes of the present description, it may be assumed that each thermostat is a "primary" thermostat, characterized in that the thermostat is connected to and responsible for controlling the HVAC system, which may be different from a "secondary" thermostat, which has many of the same sensing and processing capabilities ofthermostat 300, except that the "secondary" thermostat is not connected to the HVAC system, but affects the operation of one or more HVAC systems by means of direct or indirect communication with one or more primary thermostats. However, the scope of the present disclosure is not so limited, and thus in other embodiments, cooperation may exist in various combinations of primary and/or secondary thermostats.

A particular enclosure (e.g., a single-family dwelling) may use twoprimary thermostats 300 where there are two different HVAC systems to control, for example, a downstair HVAC system located on a downstair floor and an upstairs HVAC system located on an upstairs floor. When the thermostats are logically associated with the same user account on the cloud-based management server, such as by operatingscreens 552, 554, 556, the two thermostats advantageously cooperate with each other in providing optimal HVAC control of the enclosure as a whole. This cooperation between the two thermostats may be a direct peer-to-peer cooperation, or may be a supervisory cooperation in which a central cloud-based management server supervises the thermostats as one or more of the owners, referees, moderators, arbitrators, and/or communicators on behalf of the two thermostats. In one example, an enhanced ability to automatically leave is provided, wherein the "leave" mode of operation is invoked only when both thermostats have sensed a lack of activity for a requisite period of time. For one embodiment, each thermostat will send an exit status "vote" to the management server if inactivity has been detected for the requisite period of time, but will not enter the "exit" status until the thermostat receives permission from the management server to do so. At the same time, if the thermostats detect occupant activity in the enclosure, each thermostat will send a revocation of the departure status vote. The central management server sends out an away status grant to both thermostats only if there is a current away status vote in each thermostat. Once in a common away state, if any one thermostat senses occupant activity, this thermostat sends a revocation to the cloud-based management server, which in turn sends an away state allow revocation (or "arrival" command) to both thermostats. Many other types of collaboration among commonly paired thermostats (i.e., thermostats associated with the same account on the management server) may be provided without departing from the scope of the teachings of the present invention.

When more than one thermostat exists for a particular enclosure and those thermostats are associated with the same account on the cloud-based management server, a preferred method used by this group of thermostats may cooperate to provide enhanced automatic departure functionality as follows. Each thermostat maintains a set of state information objects, including (i) a local automatic departure ready (AAR) flag that reflects whether the respective thermostat believes itself to be automatic departure ready; and (ii) one or more peer-to-peer automatic leave ready (AAR) flags that reflect whether each other thermostat in the group considers itself to be automatic leave ready. The local AAR flag for each thermostat appears as a peer AAR flag in the set of status information objects for each other thermostat in the set. Each thermostat is allowed to change its own local AAR flag, but is only allowed to read its peer AAR flag. A common function of the central cloud-based management server and the thermostats is communication that is frequent enough to keep the set of state information objects in each thermostat with the most up-to-date messages, and in particular keep the peer AAR flag fresh. This may be accomplished, for example, by encoding each thermostat to immediately communicate to the management server any changes in its local AAR flag, at which point the management server may immediately communicate this change to each other thermostat in the group to update the corresponding peer AAR flag. Other methods of direct peer-to-peer communication in a thermostat may be used without departing from the scope of the teachings of the present invention.

According to a preferred embodiment, if all the AAR flags of this group are set to "YES" or "ready", the thermostats operate in a consistent mode such that each thermostat will only enter the actual "out" state. Thus, at any particular point in time, all thermostats in the group will be in an "away" state, or none of the thermostats will be in an "away" state. Further, each thermostat is configured and programmed to set the AAR flag to "YES" if either or both of two sets of criteria are met. The first set of criteria is met when all of the following are true: (i) depending on the thermostat's sensors, e.g., Passive Infrared (PIR) motion sensors, active infrared proximity sensors (PROX) and other occupancy sensors, which it may be equipped with, there has been a period of sensed inactivity for a requisite period of inactivity; (ii) thermostats have "automatic away confidence" in that they previously deemed to be qualified to sense statistically significant occupant activity for a statistically sufficient amount of significant time; and (iii) meets other basic "rationality criteria" for entering the auto-away mode, e.g., (a) the user has not previously disabled the auto-away feature; (b) if the enclosure is not a business, then time is between 8 am and 8 pm; (c) the thermostat is not in an off mode; (d) the "off" state temperature is more energy efficient than the current setpoint temperature; and (e) the user does not remotely interact with the thermostat through the cloud-based management server. The second set of criteria is met when all of the following are true: (i) from the thermostat's sensors, there has been a period of sensed inactivity for a requisite inactivity time interval; (ii) the AAR flag of at least one other thermostat in the group is "yes"; and (iii) both meet the "rationality" criteria set forth above. Advantageously, in particular by means of the second set of alternative criteria that an individual thermostat may set its AAR flag to "yes", it may be the case that all thermostats in this set may contribute their benefit of occupancy sensor data to the automatic departure determination of this set even in the case that one or more thermostats do not have an "automatic departure confidence", as long as there is at least one member with an "automatic departure confidence". This approach has been found to increase the reliability and scalability of the energy-saving auto-exit feature, where reliability is enhanced by virtue of multiple sensor locations around the enclosure, and scalability is enhanced because "misplacement" of one thermostat that leaves the thermostat "without confidence" (e.g., installed in an awkward location outside of an obstruction that limits PIR sensitivity) will not generally compromise the effectiveness and utility of group consistency.

It will be appreciated that the above method is readily extended to situations where there are multiple primary thermostats and/or multiple secondary thermostats. It should be further appreciated that when the term primary thermostat is used herein, there need not be a one-to-one correspondence between the primary thermostat and the different HVAC systems in the enclosure. For example, there are many installations where multiple "zones" in an enclosure may be served by a single HVAC system by means of controllable dampers that can stop and/or redirect airflow to different zones of the HVAC system. In such cases, there may be a primary thermostat for each zone, each primary thermostat being connected to the HVAC system and appropriate dampers to regulate the climate of the respective zone.

Referring now again to FIG. 5D, inscreen 562, a name is entered for the thermostat, assuming the thermostat is installed in a home rather than a business. Thelist 563 of selections is larger than the screen allows, so according to some embodiments, in response to the user rotating the ring, thelist 563 scrolls up and down so that the user can view all available selections. For clarity of description, it should be understood that when the list of menu selections is illustrated in the figures of the present disclosure as exceeding the spatial limits of the screen, e.g., as shown bylist 563 ofscreen 562, those menu selections will automatically scroll up and down as necessary for viewing by the user as the user rotatesrotary ring 312. The available choices of names in this case are displayed, including the option of entering custom names (by selecting "type name"). The first entry "Nest 2" is a generic thermostat name and assumes that a thermostat already exists on the account named "Nest 1". If a "Nest 2" thermostat already exists, the name "Nest 3" will be provided, and so on. If the user selects "type name," characterinput user interface 565 is used to enter the name.Screen 564 displays a thermostat similar toscreen 562 naming screen, except that it represents a situation wherethermostat 300 is installed in a business, rather than a home. When the thermostat is "on" to learn (or self-program) the feature,screen 566 is displayed. In this case, the user is asked whether the calendar of another thermostat should be copied. After the internet connection is complete, the server connection and the pairing process are complete, thescreens 568, 570 and 572 display the displayed content.Screen 568 is used for situations where an internet connection is established, but no pairing is made with the user account on the server.Screen 570 is used for the case of establishing an internet connection and pairing with a user account on the server. Finally,screen 572 is for a case where an internet connection is not successfully established. In all cases, the next set theme is "heating and cooling".

FIG. 5E illustrates an exemplary screen of a thermostat according to some embodiments, such as described aboveAs described in commonly assigned U.S. serial No. 13/034,666, thermostats have the ability to detect line conditions and errors by detecting the physical presence of wires connected to the terminals and sensing the presence of appropriate electrical signals on the connecting wires using an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). According to some embodiments, a combination of physical wire presence detection and ADC appropriate signal detection may be used to detect a wiring condition (e.g., an error), for example, by detecting whether the signal on the patch cord is fully energized or half-wave rectified.Screen 574 is an example where no wiring warning or error is detected. According to some preferred embodiments, the connector with attached wires is displayed in a different color and a small wiring lug (e.g., lug 575) is additionally displayed to indicate to the user that the wires are connected to this connector terminal. According to some preferred embodiments, the wiring lugs (e.g., lug 575) are displayed in a color corresponding to the most common wire color visible in the intended installation environment. For example, in the case of thescreen 574, the connector R_HThe connecting wire is red, and the connector Y₁The wiring lug of the connector G is yellow, the wiring lug of the connector G is green, etc.Screen 578 is an example of a wiring warning indication screen. Generally, a wiring warning is used when a potential wiring problem is detected but HVAC functionality is not blocked. In this case. The refrigeration conductor Y1 is detected, but the refrigeration system appears to be absent, as notified to the user inscreen 579. Other examples of wiring warnings, according to some embodiments, include: the Rh pin is detected (i.e., the wire has been detected to be inserted into the Rh terminal) but the Rh wire is not charged; rc pin detected but Rc wire not live; the W1 pin was detected but the W1 wire was not live; the AUX pin is detected but the AUX wire is not live; the G pin is detected but the G wire is not live; and OB pin detected but OB wire not live.Screen 580 is an example of a wiring error indication screen. In general, wiring errors are a detection problem that is severe enough to prevent HVAC functionality. In this case, the wiring error shown inscreen 580 is that no power supply line is detected (i.e., no Rc or Rh wires are detected), as shown inscreen 582. Inscreen 584, the user is asked to confirm that the heating or cooling system is properly connectedThen, the system shuts down, as indicated in the blank (or black) screen 585. Other examples of routing errors, according to some embodiments, include: no Y1 or W1 pins were detected; the C pin is detected but the C wire is not live; the Y1 pin was detected but the Y1 wire was not live; and the need for a C-wire (i.e., an automated power theft test has been performed in which it has been found that the power theft circuitry in thethermostat 300 will undesirably trip one or more HVAC call relays, so power theft cannot be used in this installation, so a C-wire needs to be provided to the thermostat 300).

Fig. 5F illustrates a user interface screen relating to location and time/date, according to some embodiments.Screen 586 shows an example ofelectronic display screen 316 when the first two steps of the setup process are completed. After the user selects "your location,"screen 588 is displayed to inform the user that several questions should be answered to create a launch schedule. Inscreen 590, the location country of the user is identified. It should be noted that the list of countries in this example is only the united states and canada, but in general larger lists of other countries or countries may be used.Screen 592 displays a fixed length character entry field, in this case, an example of a numeric five digit united states ZIP code. The user rotates the rotating ring 312 (see fig. 3A, above) to change the highlighted character value, and then selects this value by clicking.Screen 594 displays the example after all five digits have been entered. Thescreen 596 shows an example of a screen that is used for entering date and time information when the thermostat is not connected to the internet. According to some embodiments, the time and date input is only displayed when the clock is reset to the default values of the firmware.

Fig. 6A illustrates an exemplary user interface screen to set interview questions for user answers, according to some embodiments. According to some embodiments, the screen shown is displayed on a circular dot matrixelectronic display 316 with arotating ring 312 on thethermostat 300, such as shown and described in fig. 3A-4. Thescreen 600 displays the setup steps of the screen that are displayed once the first three steps are completed. It should be noted that if a step is unsuccessful, a symbol may be indicated rather than a check mark. For example, if an internet connection is not made or skipped, the negative sign precedes the internet by one step. If "your home" is selected,screen 602 asks the user whether to install the thermostat at home or in the business. If "home" is selected, a number ofquestions 604 may be asked to help establish a basic schedule for the user. After the interview question, the user is asked to provide a name for the thermostat inscreen 608. Notably,step 608 is only performed when there is no name that has been previously requested (see fig. 5D, step 562), i.e., when the currently set thermostat is not the first thermostat associated with the user's cloud-based service account. Alist 607 of common names is displayed to the user for selection by scrolling through the rotating ring. The user may also select "type name" to enter a custom name through thecharacter input interface 609. If the thermostat is instructed to be installed in a business, a set ofinterview questions 606 may be provided to help establish a basic schedule. Following thequestion 606, the user is asked to provide a name for the thermostat in a similar manner as described in the home installation case.

Fig. 6B illustrates other interview issues associated with the initial setup procedure, according to some embodiments. After the thermostat is named, the user is asked whether to use electric heat in the home or business inscreen 610. According to some embodiments, the heating problem shown is only asked when the wire is connected to the "Wl" and/or "W2" terminals. Inscreen 612, the user is asked whether to heat with warm air. Screen 614 informs the user to perform the test procedure in the case of using the heat pump heating system. For example, a test may be used to determine the correct polarity of the heat pump control system by activating the system and detecting the resulting temperature change, as described in the commonly assigned U.S. serial No. 13/038,191, above.Screen 616 displays an instance that is displayed to the user to inform the user to execute a relatively long program. According to some embodiments, if the user is able to correctly answer the question related to the polarity of the heat pump system, the heat pump test is not performed.Screen 620 displays an example of the successful completion of all setup steps. If the user selects "end," aconcise screen 622 of the installation is displayed, indicating the installed HVAC equipment.

Fig. 6C shows a screen related to the learning algorithm in the case of using the algorithm. Inscreen 630, the user is notified that a subsequent manual temperature adjustment will be used to train or "guide" the thermostat. Inscreen 632, the user is asked to select between whetherthermostat 300 should enter a heating mode (e.g., if it is the current winter time) or a cooling mode (e.g., if it is the current summer time). If "cool" is selected, the user is asked inscreen 636 to set an "away" cool temperature (i.e., a cool temperature with low energy consumption) that the home or business should maintain while unoccupied in order to conserve energy and/or money. According to some embodiments, the default value provided to the user is 80 degrees fahrenheit, the user selected maximum value is 90 degrees fahrenheit, the selected minimum value is 75 degrees fahrenheit, and "leaves" (or other suitable indicators) are displayed when the user selects a value of at least 83 degrees fahrenheit.Screen 640 shows an example of a display screen that is displayed when the user is about to select 80 degrees fahrenheit (no leaves displayed), whilescreen 638 shows an example of a display screen that is displayed when the user is about to select 84 degrees fahrenheit. According to some embodiments, a schedule is then created whenscreen 642 is displayed to the user.

If the user selects "heating" inscreen 632, the user is asked to set a low energy "leaving" heating temperature inscreen 644 that the user should maintain when the home or business is unoccupied. According to some embodiments, the default value provided to the user is 65 degrees fahrenheit, the user selected maximum value is 75 degrees fahrenheit, the selected minimum value is 55 degrees fahrenheit, and "leaves" (or other suitable energy saving motivational indicators) are displayed when the user selects a value below 63 degrees fahrenheit.Screen 646 andscreen 648 display examples where the user enters 63 degrees and 62 degrees fahrenheit, respectively. According to some embodiments, a schedule is then created whenscreen 642 is displayed to the user.

Fig. 6D illustrates certain setup screens according to some preferred embodiments. According to some embodiments, thescreen 650 displays the first three setup steps completed and the fourth step "temperature" not yet completed. If "temperature" is selected, the user is asked whether heating or cooling is currently being used at this time of the year inscreen 652. Inscreen 654, the user is asked to enter the energy saving heating and cooling temperatures that should be maintained if the home or business is unoccupied.

Fig. 7A-7K illustrate aspects of an overall layout of a graphical user interface of a thermostat according to some embodiments. According to some embodiments, the screen shown is displayed on a circular dot matrixelectronic display 316 with arotating ring 312 on thethermostat 300, such as shown and described in fig. 3A-4. Fig. 7A shows abasic thermostat screen 700 in a heating mode. According to some embodiments, the foreground symbols and characters remain a constant color (e.g., white), while the background color of the screen may be varied to provide an intuitive visual indication depending on the thermostat and HVAC system functions. For example, according to a preferred embodiment, a background reddish-orange color (e.g., R/G/B value: 231/68/0) is used to indicate that the thermostat currently requires heating from the HVAC system, and a background bluish-colored color (e.g., R/G/B value: 0/65/226) is used to indicate that the thermostat currently requires cooling from the HVAC system. Further, according to some embodiments, the intensity, hue, saturation, opacity, or transparency of the background color may be varied to indicate how much heating and/or cooling will be needed (or how "hard" the HVAC system is working) to achieve the current setpoint. For example, according to some preferred embodiments, a black background is used when the HVAC system is not activated (i.e., when heating or cooling is not required), while a selected background color (e.g., orange, red, or red-orange) that indicates heat is used when the set-point temperature is at least 5 degrees fahrenheit above the current ambient temperature, and a selected background color (e.g., blue) that indicates cooling is used when the set-point temperature is at least 5 degrees fahrenheit below the current ambient temperature. Further, according to a preferred embodiment, the color may be faded or switched between a neutral color (black) and an HVAC activation color (red-orange for heating or blue for cooling) to indicate the increased amount of "work" that the HVAC system must do to change the ambient temperature to reach the current set point. For example, according to some preferred embodiments, a reduced level of transparency (i.e., increased visibility or "loudness" of the HVAC activation color) is used to correspond to an increased difference between the current ambient temperature and the set point temperature. As the difference between the setpoint temperature and the current ambient temperature increases from 1 degree to 5 degrees, the "loudness" of the background HVAC activation color increases from a nearly completely transparent overlay on a black background to a completely opaque "loud" heating or cooling color. It has been found that using a change in the color display such as that described can be very beneficial in giving the user a "feel" for the amount of work, and therefore the energy and cost, that will be spent by the HVAC system at the currently displayed setpoint value. This in turn can be very beneficial for energy saving, especially when the user manually adjusts the set point temperature in real time, since the background color provides immediate feedback regarding the energy outcome of the user's temperature setting behavior.

According to some alternative embodiments, parameters other than simply the difference in the current temperature and the set point temperature may be used to display the background color and intensity. For example, time-temperature (an estimate of the time it will take to reach the current setpoint temperature), energy, and/or cost (if known accurately) may also be used, alone or in combination, to determine which color and how strong (or opaque) to use for the background of the thermostat display screen.

According to some preferred embodiments, characters and other graphics are displayed primarily in white overlaid on a black, orange or blue background, as described above. According to some embodiments, other colors of certain display features are also used, e.g., green for the "leaf" designation. Although many of the screens shown and described herein are provided in the drawings with black characters and graphics overlaid on a white background for purposes of clarity and print reproduction, it should be understood that the use of white or colored graphics and characters overlaid on a black and colored background is generally better for enhancing the user experience, particularly for embodiments where theelectronic display screen 316 is a backlit dot matrix LCD display screen similar to those used on hand-held smart phones and touch pad computers. Notably, while the presently described color schemes have been found to be particularly effective, it should be understood that the scope of the teachings of the present invention is not necessarily limited thereto, and that other effective schemes may be developed for other types of known or hereafter developed electronic display screen technologies (e.g., electronic ink, electronic paper display screens, organic LED display screens, etc.) in view of the description of the present invention without departing from the scope of the present teachings.

In fig. 7A, thescreen 700 has a red-orange background color, with the centralwhite numeral 720 indicating the current set point of 72 degrees fahrenheit. The current setpoint of 72 degrees is also shown by thelarge tick mark 714. As shown by thesmall number 718 and thescale line 716, the current ambient temperature is 70 degrees. The other tick marks in the circular arrangement are displayed in a more transparent (or softer) white color to give the user a sense of adjustment and range of temperatures to coordinate with the circular design of the thermostat, display area and rotating ring. According to some embodiments, the circular arrangement of background tick marks is sized and spaced such that 180 tick marks will complete one revolution, but 40 tick marks are skipped at the bottom, such that a maximum of 140 tick marks are displayed. The set point tick marks 714 and the current temperature tick marks 716 may replace some of the background tick marks so that not all of the background tick marks are displayed. Additionally, the current temperature is displayed numerically using thenumber 718, thenumber 718 may also be overlaid or displayed on the background tick mark in a gentle or transparent manner. According to some embodiments, to highlight visibility, set point tick marks 714 are displayed at 100% opacity (or 0% transparency), sized such that set point tick marks 714 extend 20% farther toward the center of the display screen than the background tick marks, and are further accentuated by adjacent background tick marks that are not displayed. According to some embodiments, time-temperature display 722 is used to indicate an estimated time required to reach the current set point, as described more fully in commonly assigned patent application U.S. serial No. 12/984,602 in the co-pending application. Fig. 7B shows ascreen 701 displaying a "heat to"message 724 indicating that the HVAC system is in a heating mode, but is not currently active (when the HVAC system is active, "heat" will be displayed). According to some embodiments, the background color ofscreen 701 is a neutral color (e.g., black). Afan flag 730 may be displayed indicating that the fan is active without any associated heating or cooling. Further, when the thermostat is locked, alock icon 732 may be displayed. Fig. 7C shows ascreen 702 having amessage 726 "cool" indicating that cool is needed, in addition to having a background color (e.g., blue). In this case, thedisplay message 726 "cool" rather than the time-temperature display because there may be insufficient confidence in the time-temperature number (e.g., due to insufficient data for a more accurate estimate). In fig. 7D,screen 703 shows an example that is similar toscreen 702 but displays time-temperature 728 instead ofmessage 726, indicating a higher confidence in the time-temperature estimate. It should be noted that the background color ofscreen 702 andscreen 703 is bluish to indicate that HVAC cooling is active, however the color may be partially subdued or partially transparent because the current setpoint temperature and the current ambient temperature are relatively close.

According to some embodiments, to facilitate protecting compressor equipment (e.g., a conventional refrigeration compressor or a heat pump heating compressor) from damage, a thermostat prevents reactivation failure of the compressor for a specified period of time ("lockout period") to avoid compressor damage that may occur if the failure of the reactivation interval is too short. For example, the thermostat may be programmed to prevent the compressor from reactivating within a lockout interval of 2 minutes after a failure, regardless of what happens to the current ambient temperature and/or the current set point temperature within this lockout interval. Longer or shorter lock periods may be provided, 2 minutes being just one example of a typical lock period. During this lockout period, according to some embodiments, a message (e.g., message 762) is displayed inscreen 704 of fig. 7E that provides a visually observable countdown until the lockout interval is over, in order to notify the user and avoid partial confusion as to the user as to why the compressor has not started running again.

According to some embodiments, the manual setpoint change may be active for a valid time until the next programmed setpoint. For example, if a user walks tothermostat 300 at 2:38 PM and rotates outer ring 312 (see FIG. 3A, above) to manually adjust the setpoint to 68 degrees Fahrenheit, ifthermostat 300 has a programmed schedule with setpoints that are expected to be effective at a setpoint temperature different than 68 degrees Fahrenheit at 4:30 PM, the manual setpoint temperature change will not be effective until 4:30 PM. According to some embodiments, a message (e.g., message 766) will be displayed onscreen 705 in fig. 7F (until 4:30 pm) informing the user that the 68 degrees fahrenheit set point will not be in effect until 4:30 pm.

Fig. 7G shows anexemplary screen 706 displaying a message "warm to," which indicates that thethermostat 300 is in a warm mode but that the heating system is not currently active (i.e., the thermostat does not require heating). In this example, the current temperature of 70 degrees Fahrenheit is already above the set point of 68 degrees Fahrenheit, so an active heating call is not necessary. It should be noted thatscreen 706 is displayed with a black background and white characters and graphics to illustrate an example of a preferred color scheme. Fig. 7H shows anexemplary screen 707 displaying amessage 724 "cool to", themessage 724 indicating that the refrigeration system is in a cooling mode but is not currently active (i.e., the thermostat does not require cooling). In this example, the current temperature of 70 degrees fahrenheit has been below the set point of 68 degrees fahrenheit, so an active cooling call is not necessary. This situation is similar to fig. 7G except that the system is in a cooling mode.

Fig. 7I illustrates anexemplary screen 708 in which the thermostat is manually set to an "away" mode (e.g., the user has already moved to the thermostat dial and invoked the "away" state using user interface features described further below) that the user may perform when a period of anticipated inactivity is imminent. Thedisplay 708 includes a large "away" icon ortext indicator 750 and aleaf icon 740. Note that thecurrent temperature number 718 and thetick mark 716 continue to be displayed. During the away mode, the thermostat uses the energy savings set point according to default or user input values (see, e.g.,screen 638 and 648 of fig. 6C andscreen 654 of fig. 6D, above). According to some embodiments, if the user manually initiates the "away" mode (unlike the thermostat automatically detecting non-occupancy), the thermostat will only escape the "away" mode through explicit manual user input (e.g., through manual use of the user interface). In other words, when the user activates the manual "leave" mode, the thermostat will not use "auto-arrival" to return to standard operation, but rather the user must manually establish its re-arrival. In contrast, when the thermostat automatically enters the away state based on occupancy sensor data (see fig. 7J and accompanying text below) that indicates no occupancy for a particular period of time, the thermostat will exit the "away" state based on (i) occupancy sensor data that indicates that the occupant has returned, or (ii) explicit manual user input.

Fig. 7J illustrates anexemplary screen 709 where the thermostat automatically enters an "exit" mode (referred to as an "auto-exit" mode) based on an auto-sensing state of non-occupancy for a particular period of time, as indicated bymessage 752 andicon 750. It should be noted that, according to some embodiments, theleaf icon 740 is always displayed during the away mode (automatic or manual) to indicate that the away mode is the power saving mode. The display of theleaf icon 740 has been found to be advantageous at this time because theleaf icon 740 gives the user a safeguard that by "leaving" the display screen, greenness, goodness, aggressiveness, and benefit are taking place in terms of energy savings. According to some embodiments, theleaf icon 740 is also displayed when the thermostat is in an "off" mode (e.g., as shown in theexemplary screen 710 of fig. 7K), as energy is essentially conserved by deactivating the HVAC system. Notably, the "off" mode is actually an operational mode in one operation of thethermostat 300, and is distinct from a non-operational or "stuck" state of thethermostat 300. In the "off" mode, thethermostat 300 will still acquire sensor data, communicate wirelessly with a central server, etc., but will not simply send a heating or cooling call (or other operational call, e.g., humidification or dehumidification) to the HVAC system. The "close" mode may be invoked in response to an explicit menu selection by the user, by rotating ring 312 (seescreen 814 of fig. 8C, infra), or by a network command received via Wi-Fi capabilities from a cloud-based server that provides a web browser screen or smartphone user interface to the user and thereby receives a close command. As shown in fig. 7K, when the thermostat is in the "off" mode, thecurrent temperature number 718 and current temperature tick marks 716 are preferably displayed, as well as leaves 740. In an alternative embodiment, the background tick marks may also be displayed in the "off" mode.

According to a preferred embodiment, all of the operating screens of thethermostat 300 described herein (e.g., the screens of fig. 7A-7K) that correspond to normal daily operation actually only appear when theproximity sensor 370A (see fig. 3A, above) indicates that there is a user or occupant that is relatively close to the thermostat 300 (e.g., 50cm-200cm or closer), and theelectronic display screen 316 would otherwise be dark. Theelectronic display screen 316 will remain active as the user approaches thethermostat 300, and when the user walks away from the vicinity, theelectronic display screen 316 will remain active for a predetermined period of time (e.g., 20 seconds), and then theelectronic display screen 316 will dim. Unlike alternative methods in which theelectronic display screen 316 remains active at all times, this selective opening and closing of the electronic display screen has been found to be the preferred method of operation for several reasons, including saving the electrical power otherwise required by the normally open modeelectronic display screen 316, extending the hardware life of theelectronic display screen 316, and for aesthetic reasons of the utility. The savings in electrical power is particularly advantageous in installations where there are no "C" wires provided by the HVAC system, as it is often the case that the average power that can be safely obtained by the power theft method will be less than the average power used by the visually pleasing hardware implementation of theelectronic display screen 316 when in an active state. Advantageously, by designing thethermostat 300 with therechargeable battery 482 and programming its operation so that theelectronic display screen 316 is only active when there is a nearby viewer, even when this operation consumes more instantaneous average electrical power than would be available from a power theft, theelectronic display screen 316 itself can be selected and sized to be bright, eye-catching, informative, and visually pleasing because therechargeable battery 482 can be used to provide the remaining power needed for active display, and then can be recharged during periods of less power usage when the display screen is not active. This is unlike many known prior art electronic thermostats whose display screens are made very low power consumption and less visually pleasing in order to maintain instantaneous power usage for the thermostat at a budget power theft level. Notably, this also corresponds to aesthetics in which there is no need to have a bright and conspicuous display screen at all times in many home environments, for example, for the case where the thermostat is located in a bedroom, or in a media viewing room (e.g., a television broadcast room). The screens of fig. 7A-7K may be considered the "primary" display screens of thethermostat 300, as these are the screens that are most often displayed to the user when the user walks up to thethermostat 300 to interface with normal day-to-day operation.

According to one embodiment, thethermostat 300 is programmed and configured so that after a working "C" wire is detected at device installation and setup, the user is automatically provided with menu selections during setup interviews (which are then later modified at any time through the setup menu) whether the user wants theelectronic display screen 316 to be always on, or only after a proximity user is detected. If the "C" wire is not detected, then this menu selection is not provided. Various alternative display activation options may also be provided, such as allowing the user to set a timeout interval for active display (e.g., how long the display remains active after the user walks away), allowing the user to select functionality similar to night lighting or security lighting (i.e., the display will be in a normally open mode after the ambientlight sensor 370B detects that the room is dark), and other useful functionality. According to another embodiment, if the presence of the "C" conductor is not detected, thethermostat 300 will automatically test the power stealing circuit to see how much power can be utilized without tripping the call relay, and if this number is greater than a certain threshold, then a display activation menu selection is provided, but if this number is less than a certain threshold, then no display activation menu selection is provided.

Fig. 8A-8C illustrate exemplary screens of a rotating main menu according to some preferred embodiments. According to some embodiments, the screen shown is displayed on a circular dot matrixelectronic display 316 with arotating ring 312 on thethermostat 300, such as shown and described in fig. 3A-4. Fig. 8A shows anexemplary screen 800 in normal operation (e.g., as described in fig. 7A or 7C). Clicking inward from thenormal display screen 800 causes a circumferentialmain menu 820 to appear, as shown inscreen 801. In this example,main menu 820 displays various menu names, such as "set," "energy," "schedule," "leave," "complete," and one or more icons, around the perimeter of the circular display area. The top of thecircular menu 820 includes anactive window 822 that shows the user which menu item will be selected if an inward click is performed at this time. After the user rotates the rotating ring 312 (see fig. 3A, above), the menu items are rotated clockwise or counterclockwise, matching the orientation of therotating ring 312, to allow selection of different menu items. For example, thescreen 802 and thescreen 804 show examples displayed in response to clockwise rotation of therotating ring 312. An example of a spin menu that spins in response to a spin ring, according to some preferred embodiments, is illustrated in the commonly assigned U.S. serial No. 29/399,632, discussed above. If the user performs an inward click fromscreen 804, the setup menu is entered. It has been found that a circular spin menu, such as that shown, when combined with a spin ring and a circular display area, allows for highly intuitive and easy input, thus greatly enhancing the user interface experience for many users. FIG. 8B shows anexemplary screen 806 that allows entry into the schedule mode. Fig. 8C shows selection of amode icon 809 representing a heating/cooling/off mode screen, themode icon 809 including twopucks 810 and 812 and causing a mode menu to be displayed if it appears in theactive window 822 when the user makes an inward click. Inscreen 808, a smallblue disc 810 represents a cooling mode and a small orange-red disc 812 represents a heating mode. According to some embodiments, the color of thedisks 810 and 812 match the background color used for the thermostat described with reference to fig. 7A. In this case, one disk (i.e., the heating disk 812) is highlighted with a colored outline to indicate the current operating mode of the thermostat (i.e., heating or cooling). In an alternative embodiment, themode icon 809 may be replaced with the text string "heat/cool/off" or simply the word "mode". If an inward click is performed fromscreen 808, thenmenu screen 814 appears (e.g., using a "select front to back" conversion). Inscreen 814, the user can view the current mode (indicated with a check mark) and select another mode, e.g., "cool" or "off. If "cool" is selected, the thermostat will switch to a cool mode (e.g., this switch may be performed in the spring) and the cool puck icon will be highlighted onscreen 814 andscreen 808. The menu may also be used to turn off the thermostat by selecting "off". In the case where the connected HVAC system has only heating or cooling, but not both, the words "heating" or "cooling" or "off" are displayed on themenu 820 rather than the colored disk.

Fig. 9A-9H and 10A-10I illustrate exemplary user interface screens for making various settings, according to some embodiments. According to some embodiments, the screen shown is displayed on a circular dot matrixelectronic display 316 with arotating ring 312 on thethermostat 300, such as shown and described in fig. 3A-4. In FIG. 9A,screen 900 is initially displayed after the user selects "settings" from the main menu (e.g., as shown inscreen 804 of FIG. 8A). In this example, the overall layout of the settings menu is a series of submenus navigated using therotating ring 312. For example, referring to fig. 9A, the user may move or pan theinitial screen 900 to the left by rotating thering 312 in a clockwise direction, as shown in the series ofscreens 902 and 908. The panning or movement effect of the animation is illustrated in FIG. 9A by a portion of theprevious screen carousel 901 and a portion of thenew screen carousel 906 moving as shown and is similar to the movement and panning of the animation illustrated in the above-mentioned commonly assigned U.S. serial number 29/399,621 and FIG. 25 herein. Further rotation of the ring causes successive submenu items, e.g., a "system on" screen 912 and a lock settings screen 916 (see FIG. 9B). Rotating the ring in the opposite direction (i.e., counterclockwise) may translate or move the screen in the opposite direction (e.g., from 916 to 908 to 900). Thus, the "initial screen" 900 also serves as a way to exit the setup menu by clicking inward. This exit function is also identified by a "done" tab onscreen 900. It should be noted that theinternal puck 901 displays a large central number corresponding to the current setpoint temperature and may include a background color that matches the thermostat background color scheme described with reference to fig. 7A in order to indicate thisscreen 900 to the user in an intuitive manner as a way to exit the menu and "return" to the main thermostat display screen (e.g., as shown in fig. 7A-7K). According to some embodiments, another initial/completion screen (e.g., screen 900) is displayed at the other end (far end) of the setup menu in order to allow means to exit from the setup menu to either end. According to some embodiments, the submenus are repeated with successive rotations in one direction, such that the submenus repeat a loop in a circular manner, so that any submenu can be ultimately accessed by rotating the ring successively in either of two directions.

Screen 908 has acentral puck 906 that indicates the name of the submenu (in this case, fan mode). Some sub-menus contain only a few options that can be selected or switched by clicking alone inwards. For example, thefan submenu 908 has only two settings: "auto" (as shown in screen 908) and "always on" (as shown in screen 910). In this case, the fan mode is changed by clicking in, which causes a simple switch between the two available options. The ring rotation moves to another (or previous) setting submenu item. Thus, the system on/off submenu shown in screen 912 (in the case of system "on") and screen 914 (in the case of system "off) is moved from the fan submenu by rotating the ring. The system on/off submenu is another example of a simple switch between two available options using an inward click user input.

In FIG. 9B,screen 916 is the top level of the lock submenu. If the thermostat is connected and paired (i.e., has internet access and is properly paired with a user account on a cloud-based server), an inward click will lead toscreen 918. Atscreen 918, the user can change the highlighting between displayed selections by rotatingring 312, and can then select the currently displayed menu item by clicking inwardly on rotatingring 312. If "lock" is selected, the user is asked to enter a lock PIN (personal identification number) inscreen 920. If the thermostat has been locked,screen 925 is displayed instead ofscreen 916. If the thermostat is not locked, a PIN confirmation, for example, inscreen 922, is requested. If the confirmation PINs do not match, the user is asked to enter a new PIN inscreen 924. If a PIN match is confirmed, then a temperature limit is set inscreen 938 and/or 939 in FIG. 9C. The locking capability may be used in a variety of situations, for example, where a parent wishes to limit the ability of a teenager to set the temperature too high in the winter or too low in the summer. According to some embodiments, if the thermostat is not connected to the internet or paired with an account, locking the thermostat is not allowed, so that an online backup method of unlocking the thermostat is available in the event that the user forgets the PIN number. In this case, if the thermostat is not connected to the internet, then screen 926 is displayed, and if the thermostat is not paired, then screen 927 is displayed.

Fig. 9C shows additional details of a locking feature according to some embodiments. Inscreen 938, the user is allowed to use the rotating ring and then set the minimum set point temperature (in the presence of the refrigeration system) by clicking inward.Screen 939 similarly allows the user to set the maximum set point temperature (when a heating system is present). After setting the limits ofscreens 938 and/or 939, the front to back transition is selected to return to the main thermostat operation screen (e.g., shown in screen 940). In the case shown inscreen 940, a maximum set point of 73 degrees fahrenheit has been entered. A lock icon 946 is displayed on the dial to notify the user that the maximum set point temperature has been set for the heating system. According to some embodiments,screens 941, 942, 943, 944 and 945 display the behavior of the thermostat when locked. In this example, the user attempts to adjust the set point temperature above a maximum of 73 degrees Fahrenheit. Inscreen 943, the user is asked for a PIN. If the PIN is not correct, the thermostat remains locked (as shown in screen 944). If the PIN is correct, the thermostat is unlocked and the lock icon is removed (as shown in screen 945), in which case the user may then proceed to change the current setpoint to above 73 degrees Fahrenheit.

Fig. 9D illustrates a submenu of learning related settings and information according to some preferred embodiments. Thescreen 928 displays alearning submenu disk 928a that leads to thescreen 929 when entered by an inward click. Four different options can be selected fromscreen 929. If "schedule learning" is selected, the user is notified inscreen 930 how long the learning algorithm has been active (in the illustrated example, learning has been active for three days). If the user selects "pause learning", learning is paused, which is reflected inscreen 931. If the user selects "auto away training," the user is notified of the auto away function inscreen 932. By clicking on continue, the user is asked in screen 933 if the auto-away feature should be active. If the user selects "set temperature," the user may enter energy saving temperatures for use when the home or business is unoccupied inscreen 934, which may be applied to automatically invoke or manually invoke the away condition. In an alternative embodiment (not shown), the user can enter different temperature limits for automatically invoking the leave-case than for manually invoking the leave-case. According to some embodiments, if the selected temperatures meet energy conservation criteria or other desirable energy conservation behavior, energy conservation icons (e.g., leaf icons) are displayed in the immediate vicinity of those temperatures inscreen 934. If the user selects "yes" from screen 933, the user is notified of the confidence status of the activity/occupancy sensor for the automated auto-away invocation.Screen 935 is an example that shows that the confidence of the activity sensor to a valid auto-away feature (automated auto-away invocation) is too low. Screen 937 is an example of a screen showing when the activity/occupancy sensor is "in training" and showing the percentage of progress. If and when the confidence of the activity/occupancy sensor to the active auto-away function is high enough, another message (not shown) is displayed to inform the user of this.Screen 936 is an example of displaying information to the user regarding the leaf icons and accessed by selecting a leaf icon fromscreen 929.

Fig. 9E illustrates a settings submenu for learning and auto away, according to some alternative embodiments.Screen 950 through 958 displays an alternative screen to that shown in fig. 9D. After clicking onscreen 950, the user is asked inscreen 951 whether the user should activate learning based on the user's adjustments and if so, inscreen 952 the user is notified that the thermostat will automatically adjust the schedule based on the user's manual temperature adjustments. Inscreen 953, the user is notified of how long the learning feature has been active (if applicable). Inscreen 954, the user is notified that learning may not be activated due to a conflict with another setting (in this case, a range mode of operation using a thermostat to implement upper and lower limit setpoint temperatures).

After the user ring rotates inscreen 950,screen 955 is displayed allowing entry into the auto-exit submenu. Screen 956 asks whether the auto-away feature should be active.Screen 957 informs the user of the auto-away feature.Screen 958 is an example of displaying the training and/or confidence status of the occupancy sensor to the user. Other examples of alternatives to screen 958 include "confidence to auto-away is too low" and "confidence to auto-away is sufficient" (as the case may be).

Fig. 9F illustrates an example of a sub-menu screen for settings of brightness, click sound, and units of degrees celsius/fahrenheit, according to some embodiments.Screens 960, 961, 962, and 963 switch among four different brightness settings using the inward click input shown in fig. 9F. In particular, automatic brightness, low, medium and high settings may be selected. According to some embodiments, the display screen brightness is changed to match the current selection in order to assist the user in selecting the appropriate brightness setting. When the user rotates therotating ring 312, thescreen 964 and thescreen 965 switch between providing and not providing an audible click, which is a form of sensory feedback that some users prefer and others do not. According to some embodiments, thescreen 966 and thescreen 967 are used to switch between units of celsius and units of fahrenheit. According to some embodiments, if units in celsius are selected, then a series 21, 21 in providing a digital temperature (e.g., in the example of a user turning a rotating ring on a primary thermostat display screen⁵、22、22⁵、23、23⁵And so on) the thermostat displays half a degree. According to another embodiment, there is another sub-menu screen carousel (not shown) that is equivalent to the "brightness" and "click" carousels in the menu hierarchy, and has one of the two labels "system on when you are close" and "system on when you press", the user being able to switch between these two options by clicking inwards while this carousel is displayed. Proximity sensor-based activation of theelectronic display 316 is provided when "system on when you are near" is active (as described above with reference to the description of FIG. 8C), while selecting "when you pressWhen the "system open" option is pressed, theelectronic display 316 does not open unless there is a ring rotation or an inward click.

Fig. 9G illustrates a submenu for entering or modifying a name of a thermostat, according to some embodiments. Clicking onscreen 968 may lead to screen 969 (in the home installation case) or screen 970 (in the business installation case). Inscreen 969 andscreen 970, several common names are provided, as well as the option of entering custom names. If "type name" is selected from any screen, acharacter input interface 971 is provided through which the user can input a custom name. The newly selected (or entered) name of the thermostat is displayed in the center disk as shown inscreen 972.

Fig. 9H illustrates a submenu screen relating to network connections, according to some embodiments. In fig. 9H,screen 974 displays anetwork submenu puck 974a that displays the name of the currently connected network (in this case, "network 2"). The radio symbol next to the network name indicates that the radio connection to this network is currently active. Click on theguidance screen 975, allowing the user to select a different wireless network (if any) (in this case, there is another available network called "network 3"), disconnect or obtain technical network details. If "technical details" is selected, the user can view various technical network details, such as those shown inlist 977, by scrolling throughdisplay screen 976 usingrotating ring 312. If a different network is selected fromscreen 975, the user is prompted to enter a security password (if applicable) usinginterface 978, and then a connection attempt is made whilescreen 979 is displayed. If the connection is successful,screen 980 is displayed.

Fig. 10A illustrates a location and time related settings screen according to some embodiments. Thescreen 1000 displays asub-menu carousel 1000a with a currently assigned zip code (or zip code). Theguide screen 1002 is clicked to select a country. Selecting a country (e.g., "the united states") provides the appropriate ZIP code/ZIP code format for the next screen. In this case, "usa" is selected and a ZIP code is entered onscreen 1004 and screen 1006.Screen 1008 displays asubmenu puck 1008a with the current time and date. When the thermostat is connected to the internet and communicates with an associated cloud-based server, the click may automatically set the time and date, as shown inscreen 1010. If the thermostat is not connected to the internet, aguide screen 1012 is clicked, where the user can manually enter information on the time, date, and time-of-day savings.

Fig. 10B illustrates a setup screen relating to technology and legal information, according to some embodiments. Thescreen 1014 displays asub-menu disc 1014a with a technical information name object, so clicking thescreen 1014 leads to ascreen 1016, thescreen 1016 displaying along list 1018 of technical information viewed by scrolling through therotating ring 312. Similarly,screen 1020 displays asub-menu disc 1020a with legal information name objects, so clicking onscreen 1020 leads to ascreen 1022 that displays various legal information.

Fig. 10C and 10D illustrate setup screens related to routing and installation according to some embodiments. In fig. 10C, thescreen 1024 displays asubmenu disk 1024a providing access to the wiring setting submenu. If no wiring warning or error is detected, the wiring is considered "good wiring" and the display screen 1026 is clicked, the screen 1026 displaying wiring terminals with connected wires and HVAC functionality associated with each wire. This screen is similar toscreen 574 shown in FIG. 5E. According to some embodiments, the wiring and installation setup submenu may also perform testing. For example,screen 1028 queries the user whether an automatic test of heating and cooling equipment should be performed.Screen 1029 shows an exemplary screen during an automatic test process when testing a first item fan. If the fan test returns a satisfactory result (screen 1030), then the next test step (cooling in this case) is performed, wherein a checkmark next to the word "fan" informs the user of the successful completion of the fan test.Screen 1032 displays an exemplary screen where all automatic tests (for installations involving fans, heating, cooling, and auxiliary heating) have been successfully completed. Thescreen 1034 displays an example of a failed automatic test (in this case, a fan test), and asks the user whether a wiring change should be made. Inscreen 1036, the user can decide to continue with other testing steps, andscreen 1038 displays an instance of the test being completed, with one step having an error or test failure (in this case, fan testing).

In fig. 10D,screen 1040 displays an example of a wiring warning, represented by a yellow or otherwise highlighted disk labeled "cool" proximate to the connector terminal. An inward click inputs a guided warning interpretation, in this case an error in which a wire insertion is detected on terminal Y1 but an electronic signature consistent with the refrigeration system cannot be sensed. It should be noted that the wiring warning shown in this example is not so severe as to impede operation. However, some wiring errors are severe enough to prevent HVAC operation. An example in which wires are detected on the C terminal and the Rc terminal but power is not detected is displayed in thescreen 1044. A red disc labeled "cool" appeared next to the terminal and indicated a wiring error. Click on the guidedinterpretation screen 1046 and thenotification screen 1048, and then perform forced thermostat closing (blank screen 1050). Examples of detected wiring warnings that do not impede operation and wiring errors that impede operation are discussed above with reference to FIG. 5E.

Fig. 10E and 10F illustrate screens related to certain advanced settings, according to some embodiments.Screen 1052 displays an enter advanced settings submenu. An inward click on the submenu carousel onscreen 1052 leads to an advanced settingssubmenu selection screen 1054. Selecting "device" leads to some advanced settings related to the device. For example, screens 1055, 1056, and 1057 allow a user to activate pre-heating or pre-cooling depending on what type of device is installed. Selecting "safe temperature" fromscreen 1054 leads toscreens 1059, 1060 and 1061, allowing safe temperatures to be set, which are the minimum and maximum temperatures that will be maintained as long as the thermostat is operating. For example, a safe temperature may be used to prevent damage to the freezer, for example, due to extreme temperatures. In fig. 10F, the "heat pump"direction screen 1062 is selected. It should be noted that according to some preferred embodiments, the heat pump option inscreen 1054 will not appear if a heat pump is installed.Screens 1062, 1063, and 1064 allow for the placement of heat pump and auxiliary heating configurations. Since heat pump effectiveness decreases with decreasing ambient temperature, the user is provided with the option inscreen 1063 to not recall heat pumps below a selected ambient temperature. Since the auxiliary resistance electro-thermal heating consumes a large amount of energy, the user has the option of not invoking auxiliary heating above a selected ambient temperature inscreen 1064. By lowering the temperature inscreen 1064, the user may save auxiliary heating power that might otherwise be used simply to accelerate heating provided by a slower but more energy efficient heat pump. For some embodiments, the cloud-based server may provide real-time or near real-time ambient temperature to thethermostat 300 based on the home ZIP code or ZIP code. The "range" guide temperaturerange setting screens 1065, 1066, 1067, and 1068 are selected from thescreen 1054. Alerting the user that enabling the temperature range may use the high energy level and that automatic learning has been disabled.Screen 1070 andscreen 1071 show examples of questions for determining the type of heating system installed.

Fig. 10G, 10H, and 10I illustrate screens associated with resetting a thermostat, according to some embodiments.Screen 1072 shows entering a reset settings submenu. If learning is currently active, clicking onscreen 1072 leads toscreen 1073. If "learn" is selected, the user may reset the learn to erase the calendar and the learn data inscreens 1074, 1075, and 1076. It should be noted thatscreen 1075 provides a way to confirm that the user agrees to the program (which includes data forgotten to learn until the current time) by requiring the user to rotate the spin ring to a large tick line across the background tick arc as shown. Further, in thescreen 1076, the user is provided with a time interval (10 seconds in this case) for canceling the learning reset process. Resetting the dial and canceling the interval effectively reduces the risk of the user inadvertently performing certain reset operations involving the loss of learning data. Selecting "Default" fromscreen 1073 leads toscreens 1077, 1078, 1079, and 1080, erasing all information from the unit and returning the thermostat unit to factory defaults. This may be useful, for example, in situations where a user wishes to sell a unit to others. If learning is not active whenscreen 1072 is clicked, then screen 1082 is displayed instead ofscreen 1073. Selecting "Schedule" inscreen 1082 leads toscreens 1083, 1084 and 1085, thereby allowing the user to reset calendar information. Selecting "restart" leads to the user being able to restart the thermostat'sscreens 1086 and 1087, again providing some protection against unexpected data loss (in which case the user may have spent some time establishing a particular schedule).

Fig. 10I shows an exemplary screen after the reset operation. If the reset operation erases the information about the home or business installation, ascreen 1088 may be displayed to obtain this setting. According to some embodiments, a basic question is used to establish a basic schedule. Anexemplary issue 1090 is for home installation and anexemplary issue 1092 is for enterprise installation. Screen 1094 and screen 1095 display other screens for preparing a basic schedule.Screen 1096 displays the final settings screen available by rotating the ring fromscreen 1072, allowing the user to exit the settings menu and return to the path of standard thermostat operation. According to some embodiments, one or more other "exit" methods may be provided, such as clicking and navigating to exit the settings menu.

Fig. 11A-11D illustrate exemplary screens of various error conditions according to some embodiments. According to some embodiments, the screen shown is displayed on a circular dot matrixelectronic display 316 with arotating ring 312 on thethermostat 300, such as shown and described in fig. 3A-4. In fig. 11A, screens 1100, 1101, 1103, 1104, and 1105 display examples of power supply wiring errors. A red disc next to the power connector terminal tab inscreen 1100 indicates that there is an error associated with the power cord. Click-guidedscreen 1101 interprets a wiring error condition including an error number associated with the error.Screen 1103 instructs the user to remove the thermostat's head unit from the backplane and make corrective wiring connections, if possible. Thescreen 1104 is displayed when testing of the wiring situation is performed after the thermostat reattaches the head unit to the backplate. If the error persists,screen 1105 displays information for the user to obtain technical support, as well as an error number for reference.Screens 1106, 1107, 1108, and 1109 show examples of HVAC automation detecting errors that found a problem during an initial automation test (e.g., performed during initial installation of a thermostat), such as that described in the above-mentioned U.S. serial No. 13/038,191. In FIG. 11B,screens 1110, 1111, 1112, 1113, and 1114 show examples of HVAC auto-detection errors that find problems during later testing.Screens 1116, 1117, and 1118 show examples where the head unit (see fig. 4, head unit 410) has detected that the back plate (see fig. 4, back plate 440) has failed in some manner. In fig. 11C,thermostat screens 1120, 1121, 1122, 1123, 1124, and 1125 show examples when the head unit detects that it has been attached to a different floor than expected. The user is provided the option inscreen 1120 to remove the head unit from the base plate or to reset the thermostat to its factory default setting. In fig. 11D, screens 1130, 1131, 1132, and 1133 show examples where a power theft (or power harvesting) is causing an inadvertent trip or switching of an HVAC function (e.g., heating or cooling). In this case, the user is notified that a common conductor is needed to provide power to the thermostat.

Fig. 12A and 12B illustrate certain aspects of user interface navigation through a multiple-day schedule, according to some preferred embodiments. According to some embodiments, the screen shown is displayed on a circular dot matrixelectronic display 316 with arotating ring 312 on thethermostat 300, such as shown and described in fig. 3A-4. In FIG. 12A,screen 1200 includes a rotatingmain menu 820 having anactive window 822, as shown and described with respect to FIG. 8A. Selecting "schedule" leads to a transition from the rotating main menu screen animation to a horizontally oriented one-week schedule viewer/editor. An example of a one-week schedule for transitioning from a rotating main menu screen animation to a horizontal orientation, according to some embodiments, is illustrated in the commonly assigned U.S. serial No. 29/399,636, discussed above.Screens 1210, 1212, and 1214 show portions of the animation transitions. The screen 1210 display moves or pans to a schedule display, preferably starting with the removal of the circular main menu (e.g., similar to fig. 7A), and then shrinking (or zooming out) the circular standard thermostat view 1204. As it shrinks, the circular standard view 1204 begins to move or pan to the left, while the rectangular horizontally oriented one-week schedule 1206 begins to appear from the right, as shown in screen 1210. The schedule for the week starts on monday as shown inscreen 1212, and continues to translate to a location corresponding to the current time and day of the week (which in this example is 2:15 pm on thursday), as shown inscreen 1214. The horizontally oriented schedule has a graphical area where the vertical axis represents the temperature value of the set point and the horizontal axis represents the effective time (including days) of the set point. The schedule display includes a one day of the week label, labels for every 4 hours (e.g., 12A, 4A, 8A, 12P, 4P, 8P, and 12P), a centralhorizontal cursor bar 1220 indicating the schedule time, and asmall analog clock 1230 displaying a hand indicating the schedule time. The set point is indicated as a circle having a number corresponding to the set point temperature, and having a location corresponding to the set point temperature and a time at which the set point becomes valid. According to some embodiments, the setpoint puck is saturated with a color corresponding to heating or cooling (e.g., orange or blue). Additionally, a continuesymbol marker 1222 may be included periodically (e.g., at midnight each day) that displays the current setpoint temperature at this point in time. Continuation symbol markings may be particularly useful, for example, when there is a large time gap between set points such that the most recent set point (i.e., the active set point) may no longer be visible on the current display screen.

According to some embodiments, time navigation within the schedule of one week is accomplished using the rotating ring 312 (as shown in fig. 3A). Rotating the ring clockwise moves the schedule in one direction (e.g., in screen 1240) moving the schedule forward in time (i.e., the schedule map area moves to the left with respect to the centrally located current specifiedtime cursor bar 1220 and theanalog clock 1230 rotates forward to display time). Rotating the ring counterclockwise produces the opposite (as shown in screen 1242) to move the schedule backwards in time (i.e., the schedule map area moves to the right relative to the centrally located currently specifiedtime cursor bar 1220 and theanalog clock 1230 rotates backwards to display the time). According to some preferred embodiments, the prescribed time adjustment using the rotating ring is based on acceleration. That is, the speed of adjusting the prescribed time is based on the rotation speed of the ring so that detailed adjustment of the current prescribed time can be made by slowly rotating the ring, while movement can be made one or more days by rapidly rotating the ring. According to some embodiments, the difference in acceleration rate factor between the fastest rotational speed and the slowest rotational speed is about 4:1 to achieve sufficient accuracy and ease of movement between days or to the end of the week.Screen 1244 shows an example of a faster movement of the rotating ring, where the schedule is moved by a factor of a higher rate than inscreen 1242. According to some embodiments, the prescribed time adjustment is accompanied by an audible "click" or other noise to provide further feedback and further enhance the user interface experience. According to some preferred embodiments, the audible click corresponds to every 15 minutes of the prescribed time of elapsedtime cursor bar 1220.

If thetime cursor bar 1220 is not located on an existing setpoint (e.g., as shown in screen 1214) and an inward click is received, then a create new setpoint option will be provided, as shown inscreen 1250 of FIG. 12B. Inscreen 1250, if the user selects "New", a newset point disk 1254 will appear ontime cursor bar 1220, as shown inscreen 1252. For some embodiments, this "appearance" of the newset point disk 1254 continues with an animation similar to that described in the commonly assigned U.S. serial No. 29/399,637, discussed above. Where a small puck (much smaller thanpuck 1254 in screen 1252) appears near the top ofcursor bar 1220 as soon as the user clicks on "new," and then steps to full-size version 1254 ascursor bar 1220 visibly "slides" down to "land" at the vertical position corresponding to the starting temperature setpoint value. For some embodiments, the starting temperature setpoint value is equal to the immediate setpoint value in the schedule. Rotating the ring will then adjust the setpoint temperature of thenew setpoint disk 1254 up or down from the starting temperature setpoint value. According to some embodiments, when the new set point temperature corresponds to an energy savings (and/or cost savings) parameter, an energy savings incentive indicator (e.g., leaf flag 1260) is displayed, thereby assisting the user in making energy savings decisions. Once the new setpoint temperature is satisfactory, an inward click allows the setpoint time to be adjusted by rotating the ring, as shown inscreen 1256. Once the start time of the new setpoint is satisfactory, another inward click establishes the new setpoint, as shown inscreen 1258. If thetime cursor bar 1220 is located over an existing set point (e.g., as shown in screen 1270), then an inward click produces amenu screen 1272 in which the user may choose to change the set point, remove the set point, or return from the schedule viewer/editor. If the user selects "change," the user can adjust the temperature and start time in a manner similar to that shown inscreen 1252 andscreen 1256, respectively.

According to some embodiments, the set point must be created even one quarter of a clock (i.e., over the course of an hour or 15, 30, or 45 minutes), and two set points may not be created or moved less than 60 minutes apart. Although the examples shown herein are shown as a schedule of one week in duration, according to other embodiments, other time periods may be used to display the schedule, e.g., daily, three days, two weeks, etc.

Fig. 13 illustrates an exemplary screen related to display of energy usage information, according to some embodiments. According to some embodiments, the screen shown is displayed on a circular dot matrixelectronic display 316 with arotating ring 312 on thethermostat 300, such as shown and described in fig. 3A-4. If the "energy" option is selected from the rotating main menu, such as that shown in FIG. 8A, an interactive energy information viewer is displayed. According to some embodiments, transitions similar to the schedule viewer/editor described above use standard thermostat display screen transition contractions and movements. For example, the screen 1310 (see top right of fig. 13) includes a reducedpuck 1302 that corresponds to a current standard thermostat display screen (e.g., fig. 7A) (in addition to being reduced in size). The energy viewer is moved by rotating the ring to display a series of energy information for the first few days, each day represented by a different window or "disk". For example, rotating the ring from the initial position inscreen 1310 leads first to screen 1312 (showing energy information for "yesterday"), then to screen 1314 (showing energy information for the previous day), then to screen 1316 (three days ago), then to screen 1318 (four days ago), and so on. Preferably, movement between progressive pucks representing progressive time periods, respectively, continues as movement or panning is animated in a manner similar to that described in FIG. 9A (screen 900-. According to some embodiments, the information puck is moved 7 days ago and then provides summary information on each successive previous week. A measure of energy usage versus number of average levels is displayed on each energy information disc. For example, in the "yesterday"disk 1332, energy usage was below 4% of average, while in the 9-11-day-of-week disk 1334, energy usage rose by 2%. Additionally, according to some embodiments, an explanatory icon or logo is displayed that can determine (or estimate) the primary cause of the energy usage change. For example, inscreen 1322,weather flag 1340 is displayed when the usage change is deemed to be primarily due to weather causes, and auto-away flag 1342 is displayed when the usage change is deemed to be primarily due to auto-away detection and settings. For example, other flags may be used to represent changes in usage due to manual setpoint changes by the user. Clicking on any of theinformation puck screens 1312, 1314 and 1318 leads to a moredetailed information screen 1322, 1324 and 1328, respectively.

Fig. 14 illustrates an exemplary screen for displaying an animated scale scan according to some embodiments. According to some embodiments, the screen shown is displayed on a circular dot matrixelectronic display 316 with arotating ring 312 on thethermostat 300, such as shown and described in fig. 3A-4. It is preferable to display an animation to enhance the user interface experience in which several highlighted background tick marks "scan" in space starting at the current temperature tick mark and ending at the set point temperature tick mark. An example of an animated scale scan according to some embodiments is illustrated in the above-mentioned commonly assigned us 29/399,630. In the case of refrigeration, the highlightedbackground tick mark 1406 "scans" from the currenttemperature tick mark 1402 to thesetpoint tick mark 73 as shown insuccessive screens 1410, 1412, 1414, 1416, and 1418. In the heating case, the highlighted background tick marks are scanned in the opposite direction.

Fig. 15A-15C illustrate exemplary screens related to learning, according to some alternative embodiments. According to some embodiments, the screen shown is displayed on a circular dot matrixelectronic display 316 with arotating ring 312 on thethermostat 300, such as shown and described in fig. 3A-4. According to some embodiments, in fig. 15A, screens 1500, 1502, and 1504 display information to the user indicating generally how the thermostat will learn to act thereon. According to some embodiments, during learning, the thermostat learns the adjustments to the user.Screens 1510 through 1512 display user adjustments that set the setpoint to 75 degrees fahrenheit via a ring rotation input. The message "learn" is flashed twice to inform the user that the adjustment is being used to "train" the thermostat. After flashing, a conventional message "warm" is displayed inscreen 1516, which screen 1516 may also be a time-temperature display screen if confidence is high enough. Screen 1518 is an example of a message alerting the user that the manual set point of 75 degrees fahrenheit will not be valid until 4:15 pm, which may be caused, for example, by an automatic reply imposed for training purposes that urges the user to make another manual set point adjustment. In fig. 15B,screen 1520 shows an example of a situation where the setpoint temperature has been automatically reverted back to a low temperature value (in thiscase 62 degrees), encouraging the user to make setpoint changes according to their preferences.Screen 1522 alerts the user that for the learning algorithm, the user should set the temperature to a comfortable level for the current time of day, as shown inscreen 1524 to perform the above-described operations. According to some embodiments, automatic return to low temperatures (e.g., 62 degrees fahrenheit) is not performed during the evening hours to improve nighttime comfort. Inscreens 1530, 1532, and 1534, the temperature at night is automatically set to 70 degrees to achieve the user's comfort. In fig. 15C, ascreen 1540 displays a message notifying the user that the initial learning time has been completed.Screen 1542 informs the user that the automatic departure confidence is suitably high and thus the automatic departure feature is enabled.Screen 1544 andscreen 1546 notify the user that sufficient cooling and heating time calculation confidence has been achieved, respectively, to enable sufficiently accurate time for temperature calculation, and also notify the user that sufficient information has occurred due to suitable energy savings encouragement using the leaf flags will appear in a manner that encourages energy savings behavior.Screen 1548 displays a message informing the user of automatic progress adjustments due to the learning algorithm.

Fig. 16A-16B illustrate athermostat 1600 according to an alternative embodiment having a different form factor, although the different form factor is not considered as advantageous and/or elegant as the circular form factor of one or more of the previously described embodiments, but is actually within the scope of the teachings of the present invention. Thethermostat 1600 includes abody 1602 having a generally rounded square or rounded rectangular shape. Anelectronic display 1604 having a rectangular or rounded rectangular shape is centrally located on thebody 1602. A belt-type rotating ring 1606 is provided around the periphery of themain body 1602. As shown in fig. 16A-16B, it is not necessary for belt-type swivel ring 1606 to extend a full 360 degree opposing arc around centrally locatedelectronic display screen 1604, however it is preferred that belt-type swivel ring 1606 extend at least 180 degrees around centrally locatedelectronic display screen 1604, so that belt-type swivel ring 1606 can be conveniently contacted by a thumb on one side and one or more fingers on the other side and slidably rotated around centrally locatedelectronic display screen 1604.Body 1602 may be mounted on a back plate (not shown) and configured to provide an inward click capability when a user's hand presses inward onbelt swivel 1606 or nearbelt swivel 1606. A series of background tick marks 1608 arranged in an arc within a range area on theelectronic display 1604 are illustrated on theelectronic display 1604. Although not circular in distribution, the background tick marks 1608 are arranged in an arc because the background tick marks 1608 subtend an arc from one angular position to another relative to the center of theelectronic display 1604. The particular arced arrangement of background tick marks may be referred to as a rectangular arced arrangement, which is similar to the approach in which minute tick marks for a rectangular or square clock face may be referred to as a rectangular arced arrangement. It will be appreciated that the arcuate arrangement of the graduations may correspond to any of a variety of closed or semi-closed shapes, including circular shapes, elliptical shapes, triangular shapes, rectangular shapes, pentagonal shapes, hexagonal shapes, and the like, without departing from the scope of the teachings of the present invention. In alternative embodiments (not shown), the arrangement of background tick marks may be linear or quasi-linear, simply extending from left to right, or from the bottom to the top of the electronic display screen, or in some other linear direction, with an arc subtended between a first line extending from a reference point (e.g., the bottom center or right side of the center of the display screen) to the start of the range and a second line extending from the reference point to the end of the tick mark range. Thesetpoint tick marks 1610 are displayed in a manner that is more visible to the user than the background tick marks 1608, and thenumeric setpoint representation 1612 is prominently displayed in the center of theelectronic display 1604.

As shown in fig. 16A-16B, the user may perform a ring rotation to change the setpoint, where fig. 16B shows the new setpoint of 73 degrees and thesetpoint tick mark 1610 moved to a different arc position representing a higher setpoint, and a currenttemperature tick mark 1614 and a currenttemperature number display 1616 appear as shown. For other embodiments, there is preferably a "scanned" visual display of the tick marks (not shown in fig. 16A-16B) scanned from the currenttemperature tick mark 1614 to the set pointtemperature tick mark 1610, similar to the tick mark scan shown in fig. 14 described above. The operation of thethermostat 1600 is preferably similar to that of the circular-shaped thermostat embodiment described above, except for the different implementations of the ring rotation facility and the various display layouts that are changed to conform to the rectangularelectronic display 1604. Thus, by way of non-limiting example, thethermostat 1600 is configured to provide menu options for a screen (not shown) on theelectronic display 1604, theelectronic display 1604 containing menu options such as heating/cooling, schedule, energy, set, leave, and complete, and being configured to operate similar to the rotating response of the belt-type rotating ring 1606 as shown in fig. 8A-8C, except that electronically displayed words travel in a rectangular trajectory along the periphery of theelectronic display 1604, rather than those words traveling in a circular trajectory.

Fig. 17A-17B illustrate athermostat 1700 according to another alternative embodiment that also has a different form factor, which, although not considered as advantageous and/or elegant as a circular form factor, is actually within the scope of the teachings of the present invention. Thethermostat 1700 includes abody 1702 having a square or rectangular shape, and further includes a rectangularelectronic display screen 1704 centrally located with respect to thebody 1702. Thebody 1702 andelectronic display screen 1704 are configured, such as by suitable mechanical coupling with a commonunderlying support structure 1702, such that a user can manually rotate thebody 1702 while theelectronic display screen 1704 is held at a fixed horizontal angle, and further such that a user can press thebody 1702 inward to effect an inward click input, whereby thebody 1702 itself forms and constitutes an inward pressing ring that is rotatable relative to an outwardly extending axis of rotation. The operation of thethermostat 1700 is preferably similar to that of the circular-shaped thermostat embodiment described above, except that the ring rotation/body 1702 exhibits a different form factor and a changed display layout to conform to the rectangularelectronic display screen 1704. The background tick mark 1708, the setpoint tick mark 1710, the currenttemperature tick mark 1714, the numericcurrent set point 1712 and the numericcurrent set point 1716 appear and operate similarly to the correspondingly numberedelements 1608, 1610, 1614, 1612 and 1616 of fig. 16A-16B in response to ring rotation and inward click. It is understood that the square or rectangular form factor of the body/rotatingring 1702 and/orelectronic display screen 1704 may be selected from and/or mixed and matched to a variety of different shapes, including circular shapes, elliptical shapes, triangular shapes, pentagonal shapes, hexagonal shapes, etc., without departing from the scope of the teachings of the present invention.

Fig. 18A-18B illustrate front exterior views of a user-friendly, visuallypleasing thermostat 1800 according to some embodiments. Thethermostat 1800 includes aframe 1801, acircular display 1802, and a rotatable,depressible control wheel 1804. The operational capabilities and methods of thethermostat 1800 are preferably similar to those of thethermostat 300 described above with reference to fig. 3A-15C, except that thecontrol wheel 1804 is proximate to thedisplay 1802 rather than surrounding thedisplay 1802. Although it is less convenient for the center of the user's tactile attention to be inconsistent in the same location as the user's visual attention, it may be advantageous in other aspects of the user experience in the embodiment of fig. 18A-18B, which may be considered a "red light" or "traffic light" embodiment by designation. For example, the additional area covered by thecontrol wheel 1804 may be used to cover wall holes or other artifacts that may be left by previous thermostats, or to cover line voltage boxes that house embodiments of line voltage installations. An alternative embodiment is shown in FIG. 18B, where the control wheel 1804 'is oriented vertically with respect to the circular display 1802'. In other embodiments, thermostats are provided that can be placed in the orientation of FIG. 18A or the orientation of FIG. 18B by user configuration, depending on the needs of the user.

Fig. 19A-19B illustrate perspective and side cross-sectional views, respectively, of a user-friendly, visuallypleasing thermostat 1900 according to a preferred embodiment, thethermostat 1900 including aframe 1902 and acontrol wheel 1904 made of glass or other optically transparent or substantially translucent material. A display module 1906 (e.g., an LCD or OLED display screen) is mounted behind theglass control wheel 1904, with the image formed by thedisplay module 1906 protruding outward through thecontrol wheel 1904 for viewing by a user. A bracket/sensor 1908 is provided that enables thecontrol wheel 1904 to rotate and sense its angular position using electronic, optical, electro-optical, and/or electromechanical methods that will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on this disclosure. Preferably, thecontrol wheel 1904 is also inwardly depressible and rotatable to provide an inward click input capability. Although circumferential graduations are not shown in fig. 19A, the operational capabilities and methods of thethermostat 1900 are preferably similar to those of the thermostat 300 (including such graduations and other display features) described above with reference to fig. 3A-15C. For a preferred embodiment, the peripheral edge ofcontrol wheel 1904 is frosted, stippled, or otherwise treated to be light diffusing. The light emitted from the peripheral edge, denoted "EEL" (edge emitted light), provides a visually pleasing decorative effect that can be particularly noticeable when thedisplay 1906 emits a solid blue color during an active cooling cycle or a solid orange color during an active heating cycle, as described above with respect to the embodiments of fig. 7A-7K.

Fig. 20 illustrates a perspective view of a user-friendly, visuallypleasing thermostat 2000 in accordance with a preferred embodiment, thethermostat 2000 including aframe 2002 and an opticallytranslucent control wheel 2004. Thethermostat 2000 is similar to thethermostat 1900 of fig. 19A-19B described above, except that theframe 2002 has a larger diameter than thecontrol wheel 2004 so that afront surface 2002f is provided adjacent thereto. This may provide space for forward motion sensors or other devices that may be embedded behind thefront surface 2002 f.

Fig. 21A illustrates a perspective view of a user-friendly, visuallypleasing thermostat 2100 in accordance with a preferred embodiment, thethermostat 2100 including aframe 2102 and a display/control bar 2104. The display/control bar 2104, which may include an LED screen behind an outwardly protruding glass touch screen cover, is relatively long and relatively narrow (similar to a piece of chewing gum). The periphery of the glass touch screen cover may be frosted, stippled, etc. to provide a visually pleasing edge glow. For one preferred embodiment, the display/control bar 2104 is configured to be (i) sensitive to user's upward and downward finger sliding to provide simulated user input for purposes and effects similar to the clockwise and counterclockwise rotation of theswivel ring 312 of thethermostat 300 of fig. 3A-3C described above, and (ii) depressible inwardly at one or more along-line locations to provide an inward click input capability similar to theswivel ring 312 with thethermostat 300 of fig. 3A-3C described above. Various other aspects of the visual display/control bar 2104 may be similar to those described above for thethermostat 300, e.g., the entire display background turns blue during a cooling cycle and orange during a heating cycle. The currentsetpoint temperature reading 2106 is displayed on the display/control bar 2104.

21B-21G illustrate the graphical user interface of the thermostat of FIG. 21A during and after a user input to increase the set point temperature. User inputs to achieve this change are shown in fig. 21B-21C and include "touching" thesetpoint temperature reading 2106 and sliding upward. As the finger slides up, the currentsetpoint temperature reading 2106 moves with the finger as its numerical value dynamically increases. In the vertical middle of the display/control bar 2104, anactual temperature reading 2108 is provided in place of the now repositioned currentsetpoint temperature reading 2106. Preferably, the background turns orange to indicate the heating mode of operation. Fig. 21D illustrates the display/control bar 2104 after the user has removed their finger. Preferably, as shown in fig. 21E-21F, as the difference betweenactual temperature reading 2108 andsetpoint temperature reading 2106 decreases,setpoint temperature reading 2106 moves to the vertical center of display/control bar 2104. Fig. 21G illustrates the display/control bar 2104 when the new setpoint temperature has been reached, with thesetpoint temperature reading 2106, which is now the same as the actual temperature, stopped moving in the vertical middle of the display/control bar 2104.

Fig. 22A-22D illustrate exemplary screens on a thermostat with a user interface capable of entering textual information, according to some embodiments. According to some embodiments, the screen shown is displayed on a circular dot matrixelectronic display 316 with arotating ring 312 on thethermostat 300, such as shown and described in fig. 3A-4. In fig. 22A, a screen is displayed which allows the user to input capital letters into theinput window 2222 by rotating theouter ring 312, thereby rotating the capital letters around the outer region of thedisplay region 316, and to select a character by an inward click operation when the desired character is located within thewindow 2220. Check 2250 is used to indicate that the text input operation is complete, except for capital letters, and that the selected text should be accepted; returnarrow 2252 is used to indicate that the text entry operation should be canceled;symbol 2254 indicates that another set of characters should be selected for input; andbackspace 2256 is used to delete the most recently entered character. Fig. 22B illustrates a lower case character, and fig. 22C and 22D show numbers and various other characters that can be input.

Fig. 23A and 23B illustrate thermostats having other buttons that facilitate user input and navigation according to alternative embodiments. Thethermostat 2300 is preferably designed as shown and described with reference to fig. 3A-4. As in the case ofthermostat 300,thermostat 2300 is wall-mounted, has a circular shape, and has anouter swivel ring 2312 for receiving user input, acover 2314, and adisplay area 2316. According to some embodiments, themain menu 820 as shown in fig. 8A may be accessed, for example, by using adedicated button 2320 labeled "menu" or "settings" or the like as shown in fig. 23A. According to some embodiments, the user may navigate back through the various screens and menus by pressing adedicated button 2322 labeled "back" as shown in FIG. 23B.

Fig. 24 illustrates an exemplary screen of a "select front to back" transition between screens according to some embodiments. According to some embodiments, the screen shown is displayed on a circular dot matrixelectronic display 316 with arotating ring 312 on thethermostat 300, such as shown and described in fig. 3A-4. In thesuccessive screens 2410, 2412, 2414, and 2416, a transition from thescreen 2410 to thescreen 2416 is displayed.

Fig. 25 illustrates an exemplary screen for a "panning" transition between screens according to some embodiments. According to some embodiments, the screen shown is displayed on a circular dot matrixelectronic display 316 with arotating ring 312 on thethermostat 300, such as shown and described in fig. 3A-4. In thesuccessive screens 2510, 2512, 2514, and 2516, a transition from thescreen 2510 to thescreen 2516 is displayed.

Although the foregoing has been described in some detail for purposes of clarity of understanding, it will be apparent that certain changes and modifications may be made without departing from the principles of the invention. For example, it is within the scope of the teachings of the present invention to provide the rotating ring of the thermostat described above in a "virtual," "static," or "solid state" form, rather than a mechanical form, whereby the periphery of the thermostat body contains touch sensitive material similar to that used on trackpad computing displays and smart phone displays. For such embodiments, the user's hand operation would be to "slide" over the touch sensitive material rather than a literal rotation of the mechanical ring, the user's finger sliding around the periphery but without actually causing mechanical motion. This form of user input, which may be referred to as "virtual ring rotation", "static ring rotation", "solid ring rotation", or "rotational sliding", would otherwise have the same purpose and effect as the mechanical rotation described above, but would eliminate the need for a mechanical ring on the device. Although not considered as satisfactory as a mechanical swivel ring because there may be a small amount of tactile satisfaction with the user of the part, such embodiments may be advantageous for reasons such as reduced manufacturing costs. By way of further example, it is within the scope of the present teachings to provide the inward mechanically depressible feature or "inward click" functionality of the rotary ring in a "virtual" or "solid state" form rather than a mechanical form, whereby an inward depression force of a user's hand or finger is detected by using an internal solid state sensor (e.g., a solid state piezoelectric sensor) coupled with the outer body of the thermostat. For such embodiments, the inward depression of the user's hand or finger does not cause actual inward movement of the front face of the thermostat as in the above-described embodiments, but otherwise has the same purpose and effect as the above-described "inward click" of the rotating ring. Optionally, a beep or click sound may be provided from an internal speaker or other sound sensor to provide feedback that the user is sufficiently pressing inward on the rotating ring or virtual/solid rotating ring. While not considered as satisfactory as the previous embodiments in which inwardly moving the rotating ring and sheet metal type resilient mechanical "clicking" have been found to be particularly satisfactory for users, such embodiments may be advantageous for reasons including reduced manufacturing costs. It is also within the scope of the teachings of the present invention that the thermostat provide ring rotation and inward clicking in a "virtual" or "solid state" form, thereby providing the entire device in a completely solid state form with no moving parts at all.

By way of further example, while having the ring rotation and inward click described above as a specialized user input approach that has been found to be particularly advantageous in terms of device elegance and simplicity, it is within the scope of the teachings of the present invention to instead provide the thermostat with an additional button (e.g., a "back" button). In one option, a "back" button may be provided on one side of the device, such as described in commonly assigned U.S. serial No. 13/033,573, discussed above, and in fig. 23B herein. In other embodiments, a plurality of additional buttons (e.g., "menu" buttons, etc.), such as shown in fig. 23A herein, may be provided on one side of the device. For one embodiment, activation of the additional button will be optional to the partial user, i.e., the full control device may still be used with only ring rotation and inward click. However, for users who actually want to use the "menu" and "back" buttons due to habits that may have developed with other computing devices (e.g., smartphones, etc.), the device will adapt and respond to such "menu" and "back" button inputs accordingly.

By way of further example, other forms of user input may be provided by the thermostat described above in addition to and/or in lieu of the ring rotation and inward clicking described above without departing from the scope of the teachings of the present invention. Examples include optically sensed gesture-based user input similar to that provided for modem video game consoles, as well as voice input implemented using known voice recognition algorithms. It should be appreciated that there are many alternative ways of implementing the processes and apparatuses described herein. Accordingly, the present embodiments are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive, and the inventive work is not to be limited to the details provided herein, but may be modified within the scope and equivalents of the appended claims.

Claims (16)

1. A sensing and control unit comprising:

an outer cover;

one or more environmental sensors located inside the outer cover to measure ambient environmental conditions;

a rotatable user input assembly configured to track a rotational input motion of a user and to be depressible inwardly by the user in a direction of an axis of rotation of the rotational input motion;

a presence sensor to monitor the presence of the user;

a processing system disposed inside the outer cover and connected to the one or more environmental sensors, the presence sensor, and the rotatable user input assembly, the processing system configured to dynamically identify an environmental parameter based on the rotational input motion;

an electronic display screen coupled to the processing system and configured to dynamically display a numerical value representative of the identified environmental parameter;

a wireless communication system in communication with the processing system, the processing system configured to control a remote environmental control system via the wireless communication system based at least in part on a comparison of the measured ambient environmental conditions and the environmental parameters;

wherein the processing system, the electronic display screen, the presence sensor, and the rotatable user input component are collectively configured such that:

(i) the electronic display screen is activated in response to the presence sensor detecting the presence of the user,

(ii) an interactive menu accessible to said user by inward pressing of said rotatable user input member, an

(iii) User navigation within the interactive menu can be achieved via the rotational input motion and inward depression of the rotatable user input component.

2. The sensing and control unit of claim 1, wherein the outer cover is circular and the rotatable user input assembly comprises a ring positioned around an edge of the outer cover.

3. A sensing and control unit according to claim 2, wherein the electronic display is provided on the front face of the cover and near the central region of the ring.

4. The sensing and control unit of claim 1, further comprising: a plurality of remote environmental control system wire connectors connected to the processing system, the processing system further configured to send at least one control signal to the remote environmental control system through the plurality of remote environmental control system wire connectors based at least in part on a comparison of the measured ambient environmental conditions and the environmental parameter.

5. A sensing and control unit according to claim 1, wherein the interactive menu comprises a plurality of menu items displayed on the electronic display screen, the menu items being navigated by rotation of the rotatable user input assembly and selected by inward depression of the rotatable user input assembly.

6. The sensing and control unit of claim 1, wherein the processing system is further configured to cause an animated scale scan to be displayed via the electronic display screen, wherein the animated scale scan is indicative of a difference between the environmental parameter and the measured ambient environmental condition.

7. The sensing and control unit of claim 6, wherein the animated scale scan comprises the processing system being further configured to cause the electronic display screen to display scale lines in a scan pattern from the measured ambient environmental conditions to the environmental parameter.

8. The sensing and control unit of claim 7, wherein the tick mark displayed in the scan mode is a highlighted background tick mark.

9. A sensing and control device comprising:

an outer cover means;

one or more environmental sensing devices located inside the cover device to measure ambient environmental conditions;

a rotatable user input device tracking a rotational input motion of a user and configured to be depressible inwardly by the user in a direction along an axis of rotation of the rotatable user input device;

presence sensing means for monitoring the presence of said user;

processing means disposed inside said cover means and connected to said one or more environmental sensing means, said presence sensing means and said rotatable user input means, said processing means configured to dynamically identify environmental parameters based on said rotational input motion of said rotatable user input means;

a display device connected to the processing device and configured to dynamically display a numerical value representative of the identified environmental parameter;

a wireless communication device in communication with the processing device, the processing device configured to control a remote environmental control system via the wireless communication device based at least in part on a comparison of the measured ambient environmental conditions and the environmental parameters;

wherein the processing means, the display means, the presence sensing means and the rotatable user input means are collectively configured such that:

(i) the display device is activated in response to the presence sensing device detecting the presence of the user,

(ii) the interactive menu being accessible to said user by inward pressing of said rotatable user input means, an

(iii) User navigation within the interactive menu can be achieved via the rotational input motion and inward depression of the rotatable user input device.

10. A sensing and control apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the outer cover means is circular and the rotatable user input means comprises an annular means located around an edge of the outer cover means.

11. A sensing and control apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the display means is provided on the front face of the outer cover means and adjacent a central region of the ring means.

12. The sensing and control device of claim 9, further comprising: a plurality of remote environmental control system lead connectors in electrical communication with the processing device, the processing device further configured to send at least one control signal to the remote environmental control system through the plurality of remote environmental control system lead connectors based at least in part on a comparison of the measured ambient environmental conditions and the environmental parameter.

13. A sensing and control device according to claim 9, wherein the interactive menu comprises a plurality of menu items displayed on the display means, the menu items being navigated by rotation of the rotatable user input means and selected by inward depression of the rotatable user input means.

14. The sensing and control device of claim 9, wherein the processing arrangement is further configured to display an animated scale sweep via the display arrangement, wherein the animated scale sweep is indicative of a difference between the environmental parameter and the measured ambient environmental condition.

15. A sensing and control device according to claim 14, wherein the animated scale sweep comprises the processing means being configured to cause the display means to display scale lines in a sweep pattern that sweeps from the measured ambient environmental conditions to the environmental parameter.

16. A sensing and control device according to claim 15, wherein the tick mark displayed in the scan mode is a highlighted background tick mark.

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